Star Fox: Lylat War II
by Skiver Starlight
Summary: Chapter 7 is up...after 3 months of writers block and other things...i'm finnally back...STARLINER IS NOT DEAD! This is a chapter leading up to a HUGE Chapter soon after...This is another Romantic chapter...prepare to have your eyes go O.O
1. A New Threat

STAR FOX

LYLAT WAR II

Chapter I: A new Threat

There stood Fox gazing at his enemy in horror not believing who he saw standing before him. "N…no it can't be…it's not possible. How are you still alive?" Fox said to his enemy. "I…I destroyed you back on Sauria, I saw you die."

They were standing on the top of the Cornaria City Hall skyscraper. Lightning lit up the sky and thunder rattled the air as the two exchanged gazes at each other.

"Well Fox, apparently you didn't destroy me or I would not be standing before you at this very moment now would I?" The enemy asked. Fox only could stand paralyzed in shear terror. "For I Andross am still alive and here to finish what I started back on Sauria." Andross pointed at Fox, "To destroy you once and for all Fox McCloud!"

"But before I kill you, you look like you are still puzzled on how I'm still alive and well. Well allow me to explain." Andross said. "You see while you were on Sauria you were being closely watched by my nephew. He monitored you and gathered information on your fighting abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and your fighting techniques." Andross started approaching Fox. Fox backed off as Andross came closer and closer to him knowing that he would attack when he least expected. Andross continued, "When you destroyed me on back at Sauria particles of my mind were still floating in the vastness of space. Surprisingly my nephew found just enough particles of my mind in space to clone me, bringing me back from the grave, as well as give me this body and giving me a few new abilities as well." Andross stopped approaching Fox, who was still paralyzed with fear. "Oh, I almost forgot Fox, I thought you would like to hear this, all of your friends have been killed as well as your precious girlfriend Krystal."

Then rage filled Fox's body and he shouted, "No! There's no way that is possible, there is just no way!"

"It's true Fox, I shot and killed them all!" Andross bellowed. "The frog was my easiest target, he didn't even put up a fight. The eagle was slightly harder to deal with but I eventually killed him too."

Fox was furious at Andross and the memory of his father flew through his mind. He suddenly remembered what Peppy told him about the fate of his father, and tears filled his eyes. "You…you cold hearted beast. You'll never get away with this!" Fox cried.

Andross just laughed maniacally at Fox. "Oh but I already have Fox, and there is nothing you can do about it now."

Fox rushed at Andross Oikonni and gave the tyrant a combination punch, square in the face. The Vulpine then socked his foe across the side of that massive gorilla jaw with a roundhouse kick, which caused Andross to recoil grabbing his maw. His eyes lifted and a grin began to tug at the corner of his mouth, growing into a wide Cheshire smile. His shoulders heaved slightly as laughter began to bubble forth. Fox blinked disdainfully seeing the attack had no effect. Vertigo gripped his chest and now he too was afraid. "Is that the best you've got Fox, because if it is you better surrender to me now." Andross said victoriously.

"I'll never surrender to the likes of you Andross!" Fox bellowed at his enemy.

Andross just laughed maniacally at Fox and said, "Well then…allow me to show you some of my new techniques."

Andross suddenly vanished into thin air. Fox whirled around only to find Andross looking down at him, and then he delivered a punch that hit Fox straight in his muzzle. His punch hit with such momentum that it caused Fox to fly through the air, nearly causing him to fall off of the building. Just as Fox was about to get to his feet Andross appeared in front of him grabbed him by the throat, and lifted him into the air. Andross walked to the edge of the skyscraper with Fox in his grasp and held him over the edge. Fox struggled to get free of his grasp but it was no use, Andross' grip was too tight. Fox was helpless.

"This is the end for you Fox, this is where you die." Andross told Fox as he pulled out his blaster. He held it up for Fox to see and said, "You see this blaster Fox? This is the same blaster I used to kill your father, a Quantum XDS9. I just thought it would be an honor to shoot you with the same blaster your father was killed by."

Fox knew that particular blaster was the most powerful blaster on the market and the rarest one in the in the entire Lylat System. It can shoot through anything even the strongest of all metals. He could only watch helplessly as Andross loaded up the blaster with plasma, and then charged it and put the barrel of the blaster on his (fox's) chest.

"Finally," Said Andross triumphantly, "This is the moment I've been waiting for, for the past 9 years. I'm finally going to get my revenge for all of the times you have foiled my plans for destroying the Lylat System. Goodbye McCloud!"

Andross then fire two shots at Fox at point blank range and threw him off the edge of the building. Fox yelled as he fell to the ground hundreds of feet below. He hit the ground and then quickly sat up in his bed.

Fox was sweating profusely and breathing heavily then let out a sigh of relief, "Just a nightmare." Krystal who was in the adjacent room to Fox came running through her door.

"Fox, are you okay?" Krystal asked. "I heard you screaming from my room."

"I'm fine Krystal, I just had a nightmare. Thanks for asking though." Fox said

Krystal sat down on the left side of Fox who was shaking, and put her paw on his left leg in an attempt to calm him down. Then she leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss on the left side of his muzzle, causing him to blush slightly. Krystal just loved to do those sorts of things to Fox because she knew that he would always react in that fashion. "Well it's over now and I'm here for you." Krystal told Fox

Krystal didn't need to ask Fox what he dreamed about because all she had to do was read his mind. She sensed that he was thinking of his father and his past childhood, but couldn't figure out why Andross was on his mind.

After a few moments Falco suddenly barged into the room, "Hey Fox, you have a…" he suddenly stopped, noticing that Fox and Krystal were sitting together on Fox's bed. "So…what's been going on in here Fox?" He asked in his regular arrogant tone, "I knew sooner or later you wouldn't be able to stand it anymore."

"Shut up Falco, it's not what you think. I just had a nightmare." Fox explained

"Yeah whatever Fox." Falco said, "Well as I was saying, you have an old friend from the Academy in the breakfast room."

Fox got up from his bed and went over to his closet, and got his football jersey with his number 05 out of the closet and slipped it on. Back when he went to the academy Fox was the fastest football player on the entire team. In his football carrier he was most known as their "secret weapon", because when they were down by 7 with only 30 seconds or less left in the game they used his speed to score the winning touchdown.

Fox held out his right paw to Krystal, "Well let's go see who it is shall we?" Krystal took his paw and they both left the room hand in hand. When they stepped out the door the fresh aroma of coffee filled the air, and Fox decided that maybe a fresh cup of coffee would help calm him down.

They walked into the breakfast room of the GreatFox and Fox's best friend and colleague Bill was sitting at the breakfast table. Fox shook Bill's paw, "Bill, what's up? I haven't seen you in years."

"Yeah I know it's been…around 6 years I believe." Bill alleged. Just then Bill caught his eye on a lovely young vixen standing just to the right of Fox. "Who is this lovely lady?" Bill asked raising his eyebrows.

"This is Krystal our newest member of the StarFox team." Fox said while getting a cup of coffee, and picking out an apple from the fruit basket on the kitchen counter. "She is quite tough when it comes to business, so don't let her good looks fool you." Fox taking a bite of his apple.

Bill held out his paw to shake Krystal's, "Nice to meet you, I'm Bill, Bill Magness."

Bill leaned back in his chair, "So I take it you and Fox are married?"

Fox nearly choked on the apple after Bill made that remark, "What…ma…married? Err…no, no, no we are just friends Bill, just friends."

"Yeah, he wishes he was married to her." Falco said. Fox looked over at Falco and scowled at him as he sat down across the from Bill.

Bill looked astonished, "Well I saw you two holding hands while walking in here, so I just figured you two were married." Bills tone suddenly turned sincere, "Now Fox the reason I'm here right now is because the Katina base was invaded just a few moments ago by a mysterious force. We didn't know what had happened in those few moments. There we were doing our jobs and minding our own business when suddenly we were invaded and forced to leave the planet."

Fox's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, and just as he opened his mouth to say something to Bill, Peppy came over the loud speaker calling them into the control room. Fox grabbed another apple for the road and led his friends to the control room.

The control room was an enormous room it had the symbol of StarFox in the center of the room, and had a gigantic video screen mounted on the wall just above the control panel. Peppy and Slippy were standing on the platform near the control panel. "This is the crisis team. If Bill hasn't told you already the Katina base was just recently invaded. We have an image of the enemy but I waited for you all to come before I opened it." Peppy pressed the button to reveal a horrid picture of an ape like creature with a white beard, and a bionic eye with a reddish glow in it. Peppy was stricken with fear.

"It can't be…is that Andross?" Fox said with a hint of fear in his tone.

"There's just no was Andross can be alive. We all saw him die back on Sauria." Falco commented.

They were so busy studying the photo that they didn't realize that Krystal was walking out of the room. She knew who that horrible creature on the screen was and what it did to her home planet Cerinia. Krystal walked down the hall, entered her room and closed the door behind her. She then walked over to the bed, lied down and covered her eyes with her paws, then started to cry.

"I can't believe Andross is still alive." Fox said clenching his fists. "How did he survive back on Sauria?" Fox hit the side of his fist against the wall.

"Th…that's not Andross Fox." Peppy said with terror in his voice. "That's Andross' father, Invictus." A sharp pain ripped through Fox's chest as he slowly realized that thissituation wasclosely related to the nightmare he had just a few moments ago.

Peppy explained that a long, long time ago when James McCloud was around 18 years old Invictus tried to destroy Cornaria along with the entire Lylat System. Luckily he failed and was banished from Lylat forever, but now it seems like he is back for revenge. Fox looked around and noticed that Krystal had left the room, "Hey, did anyone see where Krystal went?" Fox asked. "Maybe she went back to her room for something. I'm going to go check on her to make sure she is ok." The young Vulpine began to walk out of the room then Falco made a cutting remark.

"Are you sure you are going to 'check' on her Fox? Or are you hoping for something else?" The falcon said with a smirk on his face. Fox looked at the apple he was holding in his hand, then a grin came across his face. He then turned around and chunked the apple at the falcon hitting him in the backside of his head, causing him to grasp his blue feathered cranium. "Dang Fox what was that for?" He asked rubbing the back of his head.

"That was for not dropping that particular subject when I asked you too." Fox said grinning at his friend.

"Okay, Okay I'm sorry, I'll drop the subject geez." Falco said. The falcon and vulpine both started laughing and Fox continued heading down to Krystal's room to check on her.


	2. The War Begins

Chapter II: The War Begins

As Fox strolled down the hall, in the distance he could hear Krystal crying. He walked to her door and quietly knocked, "Krystal, are you okay?" There was no answer so he asked again, "Hey are you okay in there? May I come in?"

Krystal answered, "Yes, come in Fox." The vulpine gently opened the door to her room and walked in. The room's walls were covered with mementos that reminded the young blue vixen of her home planet Cerinia. Krystal sat up in her bed and motioned for Fox to come and sit by her, Fox honored her request and sat down on the left side her. Krystal then put her paw on his and looked up at him. Even though Fox didn't have psychic abilities like Krystal did, he could tell there was something wrong just by the way her beautiful green eyes gazed at him.

"Fox, there's something I've never told you before." The young vixen said with tears in her eyes. "I…never told you who was responsible for the destruction of my planet. You see, the person responsible for destroying Cerinia was Invictus." Fox's heart sank as he listened to Krystal speak her words, and tears too began to appear in his eyes. "Invictus is the most horrible creature you will ever meet in your life. He uses dark magic that is even more powerful than any of my psychic skills." Krystal once again started to weep and buried her head in Fox's chest. She went on to explain that Invictus was also responsible for the death of her parents. He took them prisoner and later killed them, because they refused to hand the planet over to him. After she had heard of her parent's fate she escaped from Cerinia in her spaceship moments before Invictus destroyed the planet.

As the blue vixen was telling her story Fox's grief slowly turned to anger. He could not believe that one sole creature could cause so much destruction. "I can't believe it. Damn, how could Invictus have that much power? It's unreal." Fox said while putting his other paw on his forehead.

Krystal raised her head off his chest and reached for his paw. "Fox, there's only one thing. If Invictus ever discovered that I am the daughter of the King and Queen of Cerinia he will surely come after me. If he should ever capture me he could use me as a hostage to get you to do whatever he wants."

Fox looked at the beautiful young vixen and grinned. "Don't worry Krys. I'll never let anything happen to you…ever. I will always be by your side to protect you, no matter the situation." Krystal then put her paws on the sides of Fox's head and turned it so it was facing hers and kissed him on his muzzle. The kiss was short, but in their minds it lasted for hours on end. After a few moments the young vixen and vulpine released each other. "Umm…Fox there's something I've always wanted to tell you." The blue vixen whispered while starting to blush.

"Yes? What is it Krystal?" Fox said smiling at Krystal.

"I…I love you." Krystal stuttered. She felt her stomach start fluttering and she looked at Fox who was smiling brightly at her.

"I love you too Krystal. I always have but I was just too shy to tell you how I really felt about you." Fox alleged. Ever since the two met after the crisis on Sauria they knew deep down from then they would be together forever. They didn't know if it was fate that brought them together or just coincidence. When they first met Krystal didn't trust Fox at all, but after he took her under his wing and made her feel welcome in his world their relationship began to grow ever so slightly.

**Falco, Bill, and Slippy** were all sitting at the table back in the kitchen, and Falco was gazing at the many various metals on Bill's uniform. Bill had at least 9 different metals dangling from the uniform. The young hound dog was the head and ace pilot of the Blue Star Army back on the planet Katina. He led a mission against a war that had just happened about 4 years back.

Falco was reclined in his chair with his silver boots lying crossed on the table and his arms folded. "So, you are the commander of the Blue Star Army huh?"

Bill glanced up at Falco, "Yes, I'm the head commander of the BSA, and its ace pilot."

Falco then grinned at Bill, and it wasn't just an ordinary grin, it was the same grin he always gives when he senses a challenge coming on. Slippy soon realized what Falco was up to and nudged Bill in the shoulder and nodded. It didn't take long for Bill to catch on to what was going on, but he has known Falco long enough to know that the avian is a very arrogant fellow and never backs down from a challenge. He also knew that Falco can't stand to be declared "second place". In his mind anything but first is unacceptable.

Bill rose from his chair and looked down at Falco who was still sitting in his reclining position. "Falco, I'd like to find out how well you fly an arwing. I challenge you to a one on one match in the flight simulator." Bill declared.

Falco then jumped up out of his seat and said, "You're on Bill!"

The two then made their way down to the simulator. Slippy stayed behind to see if Peppy needed any help researching on why Invictus had returned to the Lylat System. The pilots walked into the training room just across the hall from the control room. The training room was filled with equipment that teaches new recruits the basics to becoming successful pilots in the Cornarian Army. Falco was confident that he could defeat Bill in the simulator, and Bill felt confident that he could beat Falco. It was going to be the clash of the titans.

The simulator pods were facing each other, and were black with the StarFox decal on the left side. They were brand new, top of the line simulators with many different environment settings, along with other additions. Falco then opened his pod and Bill did the same, they both stepped into the artificial cockpit and closed the lids over themselves. The pods then activated and Falco chose the one on one option, and an asteroid field as their battlefield. They both put their hands on the controls and the match began.

The panel lit up just like it would if they were truly flying the arwing, and it was the most realistic thing they'd ever seen. The battlefield appeared on all sides of them and it was riddled with asteroids. The two arwings then faced each other on the screen, then Falco's voice came over the intercom, "Now don't think I'm going to go easy on you Bill."

Bill chuckled, "I don't expect you to, I expect you to fight me with everything you got."

Falco stroked his feathers on his head and chortled, "Don't worry about that, first to five wins go!"

They both pulled down on their levers and charged at each other at full speed. As they got within a few meters of each other Bill pulled up and just barely missed the falcon's arwing. Falco did a hard right turn and started to tail Bill who was weaving in and out of the asteroids. Then Falco started firing at the rear of Bill's arwing, and he missed every shot, Bill was moving to fast for him to follow. Suddenly Bill executed a looping u-turn and as he was hanging upside down he tilted so the cannons were aimed at the nose of the avian's arwing, he then fired into the nose of Falco's arwing. The damage level on Falco's arwing was rising and his ship could not hold any more mutilation. Bill then locked on to Falco's arwing and finished him off with a smart bomb, which blew him to smithereens. The simulated explosion caused Falco's pod to rattle and vibrate. "Don't tell me that's the best you've got Falco." Bill said laughing to himself.

The next round started and Falco opened with an onslaught of laser fire, which did quite a bit of damage to the hound's left wing and his left laser cannon. That didn't stop Bill, he grinned and started to lead Falco through the asteroids once again, only this time he had a plan. "What are you running for Bill? Are you giving up?" Falco arrogantly alleged chasing Bill through the meteors. There was no answer from Bill he just kept weaving in and out of the asteroids. Bill spotted a straight away in the gigantic rocks and hit the throttle. Falco once again started to fire at the left wing causing it to break off along with the cannon. This made it difficult for Bill to steer because once you lose a wing, controlling the aircraft gets more difficult. Suddenly Bill spotted a lone rock in the middle of the path, and the hound went full speed into a direct collision course with the asteroid. Falco was following close behind him and continued to fire into Bill's aircraft. Bill quietly snickered and suddenly performed a vertical loop only to reveal to Falco that a huge asteroid was just a few meters from him. "No! Pull up, Pull up!" the avian screeched as he desperately tried to avoid the meteor. No luck he smashed into the gigantic boulder causing another spectacular explosion.

"NO! How could I be so stupid? I can't believe I fell for that!" Falco shouted in a frustrated tone. The score was Bill 2, Falco 0 then the simulator suddenly stopped.

"Wha…what's going on?" Falco asked as the lid to the pod opened up above him.

Peppy was standing just outside the pod with his arms folded and a concerned look on his face. "We've received new information on Invictus and we need both of you to come to the debrief room immediately."

Bill turned to Falco and laughed, "Well Falco, I guess I won."

To Bill's surprise the falcon didn't get angry like he usually does. Instead he held out his blue feathered hand to shake Bill's. "Yeah, I guess you did." They shook hands then Falco continued, "Only because we didn't get to finish our match. Next time I'll defeat you and won't fall for any of your tricks again."

Bill smiled, "We'll see Falco. We'll see."

Falco then glanced at Peppy, "So pops what's going on?"

Peppy glanced back at the avian, "It turns out that Invictus is even more cunning than we thought, and he's declared war on the Lylat System." Falco's eyes widened and looked straight forward in silence as they walked the rest of the way down the main hall to the debrief room, where Fox, Krystal, and Slippy were gathered waiting for them to return. The debrief room was a particularly small room with a round table with the StarFox logo in the middle of it. There were 7 chairs around it and a screen hanging on the red and green striped wall. Peppy then walked to the front of the room and started pacing up and down in front of the screen. "Team, our researchers have found out that our enemy has been planning his invasion of the Lylat System for at least 2 years."

"What, two years?" Fox mused

"Yes, it turns out that Invictus has been feeding information to his troops from the Charian System ever since he heard of his sons defeat back on Sauria." Peppy said still pacing. "Our researchers have also figured out that he is not working alone. We have not yet been able to discover who he is working with but, we are certain it is someone who is very dangerous and intelligent. We've sent a spy to Katina to gather information on the war, as well as any weapons that Invictus has built or is building."

"Well, do we have any ideas to who could be working with Invictus?" Krystal said resting her chin on her clasped paws.

"No but…" Peppy was suddenly interrupted when the screen in the front of the room turned on, displaying a marmoset with a disturbed look on his face.

"Sir, General Pepper is on the video phone and wants to talk to you and the rest of the team immediately." The anxious marmoset said.

The screen changed to reveal the old wrinkled face of their beloved general who had a terrified look. "Members of StarFox we've just received information that the small army who just invaded Katina just a few hours ago has completely taken over the base. All except a few of Blue Star troops were killed in the vicious battle." The old hound dog said then looked down in disgust. "Also…the spy we sent to Katina to feed us information has been captured and is being held prisoner by the army. They fortunately don't know that he is from StarFox."

Every member of the StarFox team then looked at each other and Fox said, "Those beasts, Invictus will not get away with this."

"Fox, this may be a shock to you and the others, but Invictus was not responsible for invading Katina." Pepper said.

"What? What do you mean not responsible?" Falco mused. "If he wasn't accountable for that invasion then who was?"

Pepper sat in silence for a few seconds with his paws on his forehead, closed his eyes then answered, "It was Andrew Oikonny."

The entire team was baffled, they couldn't believe that Andrew Oikonny was still alive. Back when the aparoids invaded, his ship was destroyed right in front of their eyes. The aparoid swooped down and blasted its laser right into Andrew's ship. After the team witnessed that they were sure he had been killed, but somehow he survived.

"We need to rescue our spy Fox." Pepper said, "If Andrew finds out that he is from StarFox we will be in an enormous amount of trouble. Everyone needs to leave as soon as possible, we all know that Andrew is very intelligent and he will get what he wants one way or another."

No one could argue with what the general said there, Andrew is indeed a very sly creature and is almost as unstoppable as his uncle was. Back when he led the rebellion he was very close to succeeding at taking over Cornaria. If StarFox hadn't shown up to aid the Cornarian Army then he would have destroyed the army with his Stealth Squadron and taken control of Cornaria.

After a few moments of thinking Peppy formulated a plan. "Sir, I have an idea, I know for a fact that the security at the base will be extremely tight and there will be no way that the team can land without getting spotted."

"Go on." Pepper said tapping the left side of his muzzle.

Peppy continued, "Well, what if Slippy constructed a cloaking device that he could add on to the arwings? That way they could land on the planet without getting detected."

The general's eyes widened and clasped his paws together, he was surprised that he didn't think of that sooner. "That is a great idea Peppy." The general then adjusted his glance over to Slippy, "Slippy can you do that for us?"

The toad nodded, "Yes sir I can but it will take at least two days to complete."

"I'm willing to take that chance just get it done as soon as possible. I expect to hear that you all return safe and sound, good luck. Pepper out." The screen turned off and Peppy glanced at his team who were glancing back at him.

"Well team we know what we need to do so let's get right on it." Peppy said.

The team exchanged glances at each other then stood up and left the room. They all knew what was in store for them in two days and decided to prepare the best they could. Slippy immediately went to work on the cloaking device, and the others did what they thought was most important for preparing for the trip to Katina.

**TWO DAYS LATER**

Fox was standing in his room preparing for departure. He walked over to the closet and pulled out his green uniform with the red stripe down the center and his green pants and put them on. Then he took out his armor and slipped it on over his uniform. Fox sighed and then opened the top drawer of his dresser, and pulled out a pair of gloves, sunglasses, and his blaster. He stared at the gloves and glasses and remembered that his father had given them to his son the day he died. He then put on the gloves, hung the sunglasses on his uniform, and placed the blaster in its holder on the left side of his uniform and made his way to the control room where everyone was gathered.

Fox walked into the control room and saw Falco tapping his foot on the ground looking at his watch, "Where have you been Fox, we've been waiting here for an hour."

"Sorry everyone I just got a little sidetracked, and Falco, it's only been about 15 minutes." Fox said

"Well let's head down to the hangar so we can get this mission started." Peppy said with the up most confidence in his voice.

The team started making their way to the hangar where the arwings were waiting. The team members that were going to Katina are Fox, Bill, and Falco. The others decided to stay behind because Peppy is too elderly to fly, Fox feared for Krystal's safety because he remembered what she had told him about what would happen if Invictus found her, and Slippy decided to stay behind because he thought he would just get in the way. They arrived at the hangar and Peppy punched in the security code that allowed him to open the colossal hangar doors. They slid up only to reveal three arwings that were all sitting in a line and looked brand new.

"So, do you all like what I've done to the arwings?" Slippy said proudly.

"Slippy, what in the world did you do to the arwings?" Falco said staring at his ship.

"I'll be happy to tell you my friends. See it turns out that I finished the cloaking device the day it was assigned to me. I worked the rest of that day and all night designing and installing it into the arwing. When I finished I thought why stop there, I can make this arwing even better than what it is now. So I not only invented a cloaking device but I also refitted the laser cannons so they blast lasers three times as strong as before, I've increased the top speed the arwing can travel, I've made the brakes stronger, and I've coated the arwings with a special alloy that has made them more durable than ever." Slippy explained seeing that his friends were speechless and their jaws were hanging open.

"Slip you've really out done yourself this time, great job!" Fox said patting his friend on the shoulder

"Thanks Fox, oh and by the way the arwings are now even stronger than the Wolfens." Slippy added

"Well, I guess it's time to get going. We need to rescue our friend and get any additional information that he has." Fox mused

Peppy then reached for the code panel on the wall and punched in the code that unlocks the arwings. The lids to the arwings opened and Fox, Falco, and Bill climbed inside. Fox looked down from the cockpit to see Krystal's soft green eyes gazing at him. "Please be careful Fox, I expect to see you back here in one piece." She said blowing a kiss to the vulpine.

"Don't worry Krystal I'll be ok." Fox said blowing a kiss back to her.

Slippy suddenly called out to Fox, "Hey Fox, I almost forgot do you see that blue button just to the right of the panel? Push that to activate stealth mode, be careful though that device uses up a lot of fuel cells and if used incorrectly you could find yourself stranded in the vastness of space, so you need to decide when it's most advantageous to activate it."

"Thanks Slip I'll be sure to remember that." Fox said smiling at his friend. "Well my friends we'll be back soon, everyone take care."

Fox saluted to his teammates on the ground and they saluted back as they watched the arwings start hovering off the ground. The hum of the engines grew louder and Fox took his fathers sunglasses off his uniform and slipped them on over his green eyes then exclaimed, "Let's do this!" The three space fighters then blasted off disappearing into the clear blue sky.


	3. Operation Search and Rescue

**A/N: My fanfiction fans, I greatly appreciate the reviews for my story and I just want to apologize for keeping you waiting for sooooooo long. I've had a research paper assigned to me recently and I have to pass it to graduate from High School. I also had a 7 day cruise I went on which delayed me even more. I hope you enjoy this chapter because I've crammed it with plenty of action and some suspense especially at the end. Thanks for your patience and enjoy. **

Chapter III: Operation Search and Rescue

Andrew Oikonny stood in his office gazing out the window in front of him. He was in deep thought about what he should do about the spy they caught just a few moments ago. Andrew reached for his headset and called the army's interrogator, "Andrew to Leo."

The device responded, "This is Leo go ahead."

"I need you to come to my office immediately, I need to discuss with you about what to do with our little friend." Andrew said.

He then took off the headset and set it down on his desk, then walked over to some security monitors and looked at the one that had their prisoner sitting in the interrogation room. He trotted back to his desk and sat down in his leather chair; he picked up a snow globe sitting on the desk and shook it causing the flakes in the globe to swirl around. Then the door to his office slid open revealing a muscular and very heavily armed tiger standing in the doorway. "Sir you wanted to see me?" The feline asked his boss.

Andrew stood up and walked out from behind his desk with his hands behind his back, "Yes, Leo I need you to go to the interrogation room and question our little friend. All I need to find out is who she is and who sent her, after that you can do whatever you want to her."

The tiger grinned at Andrews request, he was a fighter and a very skilled one. He was armed with several weapons which were hooked on his belt, a blaster, tazer, and a laser dagger. He also had two five foot double edged swords that were crossed like an X on his back. Leo is a very agile creature he can sneak up behind his victims and attack without them even knowing he was there. 'Well what if she refuses to talk?" the feline asked.

Andrew turned his back to Leo and walked back to the window and looked over his shoulder, "I'll think about what to do if she decides not to cooperate, now get going."

"Yes sir." The feline responded while saluting to his boss.

**Meanwhile three arwings were gliding **through the Meteo asteroid field. "Team we are just a few meters from Katina." Fox's voice said over the intercom. "Activate the cloaking device and prepare to enter Katina airspace."

The three arwings then disappeared out of sight and started to enter Katina's atmosphere. Soon the base came into their sights and Fox saw a series of tall hills an ideal place to hide their arwings when they deactivated the cloaking. The others followed Fox and landed behind the small range of hills, and disengaged the cloaking option. The arwings reappeared and the team opened the lids to their cockpits. As Fox started to stand up in his cockpit his foot nudged something. He looked down by his feet and saw a small rod sitting by his right foot, it was Krystal's staff and attached to it was a note that read, "Hi Fox, I just snuck this into your arwing just in case you needed it." Fox sighed and slipped the staff on his belt next to his blaster. He jumped down from the arwing and regrouped with the other two wingmates waiting for him on the top of one of the hills.

Bill held up his digital binoculars and located two lizards armed with blasters patrolling the front doors. He lowered them and turned to Fox and Falco. "If we are to get in the base we need to take out those two down there."

Falco grinned and reached for a small briefcase lying on the ground. "Not a problem. I've been waiting for some action." The avian said opening up the case, it contained a sniper rifle with a screw on scope. He took out the gun and scope and examined them, then he attached the scope to the top of the gun and spun it around until it locked into place. Then the falcon charged the rifle, looked into the scope, adjusted the focus and aimed at one of the two lizards then fired. The guard fell to the ground with a thud and the other took aim with his blaster and frantically milled around to see if he could locate who shot his partner. He then quickly raised his communicator on his wrist, "This is G097 to And…" Falco shot him down before he could warn Andrew of the situation. Falco lowered the rifle and stared at it, "Dude I love this gun!"

The three pilots dashed down the hill and approached the front door. Bill walked over to code panel and punched in the access code and Falco grabbed his blaster out of its holster, the giant doors began to slide open. As the doors were opening a marmoset on the other side turned around and faced the door aiming his blaster. To his surprise when the doors opened there was nobody there, so he slowly strafed towards the left side of the door with his blaster held out in front of him. The guard quickly turned the corner only to see Falco standing right in front of him.

"Hello!" the eagle shouted and gave the guard no time for reaction, the avian quickly executed an overhead strike with the butt end his blaster which made contact with his foes skull. He then swung the gun across the right side of his enemies' maw sending him falling to the ground. Falco then aimed his blaster at the terrified guard lying on the ground.

"What do you want from me?" The marmoset said shaking in fear.

"Where is the prisoner that was captured a few hours ago?" Falco asked with the blaster pointed at the marmosets face.

"We…we usually send prisoners to the interrogation room to be questioned. Now please let me go." The frightened guard pleaded.

"Sorry, I just can't do that." Falco alleged lowering the blaster to his foes chest finger on the trigger ready to depress it.

"Wait Falco," Fox said putting his paw on and pushing down the eagle's blaster, "Violence doesn't always solve everything you know, maybe he can help us. There's no way we can navigate this whole base without getting caught."

Bill marched over to his team mates and nodded in agreement with Fox, "You know he's right, this base has a top notch security grid and the only way to prevent from getting detected would be shutting off the surveillance system."

The marmoset looked extremely relieved when Falco's blaster was removed from his gaze. He overheard their plan and chimed in, "I can shut off the surveillance system. I can get you guys to where you want to be."

The team all agreed to let the marmoset help them and Falco adjusted his gaze to the paralyzed guard and once again held his blaster in the marmosets face causing him to raise his paws in front of his maw, "Ok but if you try to screw us over then you will have a new hole in your face."

The marmoset lowered his hands, sat up wiped the small trail of blood running from his nose, and nodded in agreement. Falco approached the animal and lifted him to his feet tightly grasping the back of his collar so he could not run away. The marmoset was shaking with fear in his uniform, he had never had to deal with this kind of situation before. "Just follow me." He said leading them deeper into the base.

**Katt Monroe **was sitting tied to her chair at a lone table in the middle of the interrogation room reflecting on what happened just a few hours ago. She was patrolling the hall near Andrew's office cleverly disguised as a common foot soldier when she overheard him talking about a 'secret weapon' that could devastate the Lylat System. She remembered quickly dashing out the door and finding a safe alcove to make contact with General Pepper. The last thing the furry feline remembered was as she was talking to General Pepper she looked up to see a fierce looking tiger staring down at her and saying, _"Well what do we have here? Looks like we got ourselves a little trouble maker on our hands." _Next thing she knew she was sitting in a dark dank room. She couldn't call General Pepper back because when she woke up she noticed that her wrist communicator was gone.

Suddenly the doors to the room slid open and Leo stood in the doorway with a grin on his mug. He stepped through the doorway and proceeded to the table where Katt was sitting. Katt narrowed her gaze at Leo and turned her head away from him and looked up at the security camera mounted on the ceiling. "I knew there was something suspicious about you." Leo said stopping at the other end of the table looking down on Katt, "You thought you could get away with spying on us didn't you?"

Katt didn't answer she adjusted her gaze so her face met Leo's and just remained silent. "I just have a few questions for you my little friend." Leo said, "Who are you and why are you here?"

Katt answered. "My name is Katt Monroe and why I'm here is none of your business."

Leo narrowed his eyes at Katt, he could tell that this feline would give him some resistance. "Now I don't like to use force Ms. Monroe but I'll be forced to if you don't cooperate." Leo said putting his paw on his blaster as to scare Katt. His attempt to scare her failed, Katt just grinned and let out a slight giggle. This frustrated the tiger and he quickly pulled his blaster from his belt, and then aimed it at Katt's forehead. Leo had a very low tolerance for resistance and the slightest thing like that would infuriate him. "Now unless you tell me who sent you I won't be forced to shoot you." Leo alleged still aiming the gun at Katt.

The pink feline just looked up at her enemy and scoffed, "Not…a…chance." She then turned her head once again to the security camera, only this time she noticed that the red light on the camera was not glowing. Her eyes widened and she directed her gaze back at Leo.

"Fine then, if you won't cooperate with us then I will be forced to take action." Leo said charging his blaster, "Last chance my cocky little friend." Katt just remained silent. "Well then…goodbye."

Just then Leo's communicator on his wrist buzzed, "Leo, come to my office immediately, we have a problem." Leo lowered his blaster and growled, "What the hell does he want?" He turned around and proceeded out the door.

As soon as he was out of sight she struggled to free herself from the ropes that were coiled around her paws and feet. It was no use the ropes were too tight and she couldn't get free. She looked around the room to find any way she could escape if she managed to free herself from the ropes. She scanned the room and her eyes crossed a ventilation duct mounted on the wall. Then she heard footsteps outside her door, and they were growing louder and louder. The door slid open and Fox and the others trotted through it with their blasters in their paws. Falco caught first glimpse of Katt and his jaw dropped, "Katt?"

"Falco?" Katt answered.

"What are you doing here?" Katt and Falco both said at the same time.

"You are the spy we're supposed to rescue?" Falco alleged, "But you're not part of Star Fox or the Cornarian Army."

Katt grinned at the falcon, "I'll explain it to you later, right now let's focus on escaping."

Bill pulled out his laser dagger ambled over to Katt and began to slice the ropes that were constricting her.

**MEANWHILE**

Leo strolled down the hall to Andrew's office, he stopped at the door and let out a sigh. He depressed the button that opened the door and proceeded through it. "What seems to be the problem sir?"

Andrew was pacing up and down the room, he stopped and glanced over to his minion. "Leo, the security cameras have stopped working." The ape pointed to the blank screens sitting right by his desk. "Could you reactivate them for me?"

Leo just looked baffled at what he just heard. Andrew, the computer genius was asking him to reactivate the security from his own computer. "Umm…sir can't you do that yourself?"

Andrew looked embarrassed, "Well I would except, I forgot the password to the mainframe."

Leo rolled his eyes and went over to his boss' computer, he gently tapped the keys on the keyboard and soon he looked over to the monitors in the room and they started to flicker on one at a time. "There we go, they're all up and running now sir." Leo told his boss.

Andrew turned to the tiger, "Thank you Leo you may go now."

The tiger started heading for the door and as he approached it he gazed at the monitor with the interrogation room. He then looked away and continued for the door. As the door slid open he stopped and quickly twirled around. He then trotted at a fast pace back to the monitors to check the one he was looking at one more time. What he saw was a fox, eagle, a hound dog, and Katt, he then asked his boss, "Sir, did you send anyone to the interrogation room to cover for me?"

Andrew flipped around, "No why?"

"Well, there are three others in the room at this time."

Andrew approached the monitors and glanced at it, then his eyes widened and his jaw dropped to the floor, "What the hell? That's Fox McCloud!"

Leo's eyes also widened and he turned to his boss, "Fox McCloud? Isn't he the one who almost killed you during the aparoid war?"

"Yes that's him alright, and I want you to repay the favor…kill him and his friends!" Andrew shouted in a furious tone. With that order the ferocious tiger bolted out the door, and Andrew whirled around and approached the window once again. _"If Fox and his friends escape then the entire Cornarian Army will be after us and we'll be in serious trouble." _Andrew thought to himself.

**MEANWHILE IN THE INTERROAGAION ROOM**

"Almost done Katt," Bill said as he finished slicing through the ropes that were around Katt's paws and feet. The ropes snapped and fell to the ground, Katt stood up and rubbed her wrists and then pointed to the vent sitting on the wall.

"There we can get out through that vent," Katt alleged, "We just need to pry the cover off."

Fox reached for the staff by the holster of his blaster, he approached the vent cover and extended the staff. He placed the tip of the rod under a portion of the vent, put one leg on the wall and pushed back from the wall hard. The vent popped off and hit the ground with a loud crash. Fox contracted the staff to its normal size and sighed, "Piece of cake, ok everyone get into the vent quickly."

Katt was the first to get into the vent, Falco came up and gave her a boost up into the vent. Bill was the next to go so he could lead them throughout the ventilation system. Fox was after him and then, Falco crawled into the vent last. As Falco's foot disappeared into the vent, the doors to the room smashed in. Leo lunged into the room with his blaster withdrawn quickly turning around in different directions to be sure he wasn't going to be taken by surprise. "What the…how did they…" the angry tiger mused as his gaze was directed to the vent cover lying on the ground. "The ventilation shaft, that's how they got out!" Then he charged back though the opening where the door used to be.

The team crawled through the vent and Falco whispered, "Bill, are you sure this shaft can hold all of our weight combined?"

"Yes Falco, I'm pretty sure it can." Bill answered.

Fox stopped and turned his head, "Everyone we need to be as quiet as possible, it we get caught here our trip up here will be for nothing." The team all agreed and they continued proceeding through the shaft.

The team then came to a point in the shaft whether to go left or right. "Turn right here everyone." Bill whispered as quietly as possible.

Leo slid around the corner and ran down the hall, he then skidded to a stop halfway down and tilted his head to the right and looked up at the ceiling. He thought he detected some faint noises coming from the ceiling as he was running down the hall. He then aimed his blaster at the ceiling. "I know you're there and you can't escape from me forever."

Fox and the others heard Leo and stopped in the vent and remained totally silent, just in case he was bluffing. Leo's voice boomed once again, "If you give up now, I promise that we will go easy on all of you." Leo continued to aim the blaster at the ceiling. There was no response, "Have it your way then." The tiger said and fired five shots into the ceiling. There was a long silence and he listened for any cries of pain but there weren't any. He grinned and continued down the hallway.

The team waited a few more moments to make sure he was gone. Fox could hear Falco breathing heavily, and he turned his head to him. "Falco are you ok?"

"He…he shot me Fox." Falco groaned in pain.

"He shot you? Where?" Fox shouted worrying about his friend.

"Shhhhhh...it's ok Fox he only got me in…the foot." Falco mused.

They continued on and rounded the last corner and saw an opening with sunlight passing through it, "There that's the end." Bill said with glee, "This will take us outside to the doors we came in."

Everyone let out a sigh of relief and crawled toward the opening. Fox once again grabbed his staff and extended it. "Here Katt, use this to pop the cover off just like last time." Katt extended her right arm behind her and grabbed the staff. She then put the tip of it on the top and pried it off the wall. "Well that was easier then I expected." She said with a slight chuckle.

Suddenly a massive paw lurched through the opening, grabbed Katt by her throat and threw her down to the ground. The staff landed just outside the vent shaft and everyone else quickly shuffled out of the shaft. Fox went for the staff lying on the ground just a few feet behind Leo. "So you thought you could escape me huh? Well you were wrong and now you are going to pay for ever messing with me." Leo mused as he aimed his blaster at Katt, ready to fire. Then Fox jumped onto the tigers back, held onto the staff at both ends and placed it on the front of Leo's neck. "No, leave her alone!" Fox shouted at his enemy. Leo struggled with the vulpine and grabbed the back of Fox's uniform and hurled him over his massive shoulders. The vulpine flew through the air and slammed into the ground bouncing once.

Fox groaned as he stood up and wobbled around. Leo folded his arms and scoffed at vulpine, "I expected you to be more of a challenge to me, and I'm very disappointed. I thought you were a skilled fighter but I guess I was wrong." Leo turned his back to Fox.

Fox regained his composure, reached for the staff on the ground and grinned. "So you want to challenge me huh? I except you challenge."

Leo spun around and also grinned, "Very well, choose your weapon." Leo reached for one of the swords strapped on his back and pulled it out of the holster. Fox put both of his paws on the staff and held it out in front of him. Leo laughed ruthlessly at the vulpine's choice of weapon. "That stick is your weapon? I'll snap that thing in half like a twig!" The ravenous tiger leaped into the air and executed an overhead strike with his blade. Fox quickly raised the staff over his head to block the attack. The two made contact and to Leo's surprise the staff didn't even scratch when he made impact. He quickly leapt back, "How is that possible? My sword didn't even scratch it."

"Maybe you shouldn't judge something just by the way it looks." Fox answered with a grin.

Leo charged at Fox and slashed his sword at the vulpine's head. Fox dodged the attack spun around and planted the sole of his boot into the tigers stomach. He then took his staff and swung one end upwards making contact with the tiger's massive jaw. Leo took a few steps back and wiped a small portion of blood from his maw. _"Grrrr…this is harder that I expected. I'd better get serious" _Leo thought to himself. The tiger yelped and once again charged at Fox. He executed several swings with his sword which either missed or were all blocked by the staff. "Hold still you punk!" Leo yelped desperately trying to land a blow on the vulpine. He paused for a moment.

"I expected you to be more of a challenge to me, guess I was wrong." Fox said repeating what he was told just moments earlier.

This enraged the tiger and he swung his massive fist across the vulpine's muzzle. The punch made impact and turned Fox's head 45 degrees to the left. Fox quickly answered and jabbed the end of the staff into Leo's abdomen, and fired three fire blast shots into it. Leo was forced back a few feet and fell on one knee trying to catch his breath. He wasn't sure what just happened, "Wh…what the hell…was that?" Leo yelped holding his stomach.

"It's a little trick I learned while on another mission a few years ago." Fox chortled.

"Well you won't get that chance again." Leo said standing back up, and pulling his second sword out of its holster. "I've had enough of this, now I'll finish you off!"

With both swords drawn Leo ran at Fox and swung both of the swords at the vulpine. Fox leaned back and the tip of one of the blades scratched his muzzle and a small amount of blood trickled down it. Leo brought one of the blades over his head and forced it down to slice Fox in half. The vulpine quickly moved out of the way and swung the staff with such force that it knocked one of the blades out of Leos grasp.

The blade flew through the air directly at Katt. Falco quickly ran to her aid, "Katt look out!" the avian said as he dove for Katt shoving her out of the way. They both landed on the ground hard and Falco looked at Katt, "Are you ok?" he asked.

Katt nodded, "Yes Falco, I'm fine."

Leo looked back at his sword and then redirected his gaze back at Fox. He scowled at his enemy then quickly reached for his tazer and fired it. A hook with an electrical wire shot out of the gun and hooked Fox in his chest. Leo let a surge of electricity through the gun and shocked Fox. Fox yelped in pain and fell on his knees. The tiger let another surge through and electrocuted Fox once again. The vulpine fell on his side and desperately tried to loosen the hook that was jammed in him. Leo approached Fox and laughed, "Now what are you going to do?" He shocked Fox one more time and the vulpine suddenly stopped moving. Fox now lied motionless on the ground. Leo picked Fox's frozen body off the ground by his arm and pulled out his blaster. He carefully aimed it at Fox's chest. "Goodbye Fox McCloud!" Leo fired two shots into Fox's chest and tossed him aside.

Bill yelped in terror, "No Fox!"

Leo laughed maniacally and then suddenly stopped. A sharp jolt of pain surged through his body and he looked down, only to see that he had been impaled by his own sword. The blade was jammed through his back and out of his chest. He slowly turned around to see Katt standing a few feet behind him with a blaster at the ready.

Leo started to move at a fast pace towards her, "Why you dirty little bi…" Katt fired the blaster and made contact with the tiger's forehead. Leo fell to the ground and landed on his back, which pushed the blade the rest of the way through. He was dead.

A ship was then seen flying off in the distance, it was Andrew.

Katt and the others ran for Fox's motionless body. Falco kneeled down beside him, ripped the hook out of his chest, and nudged him, "Fox? Dude please be alive, come on don't die on me man." Falco started to give his friend CPR to try to save him. Tears began to appear in their eyes. "Fox come on…please…please breathe!" Bill said starting with tears starting to flow out of his eyes. Falco continued to give CPR to Fox but it didn't appear to be working, there was no sign on life in his body. The falcon continued to try to revive his best friend, and Bill then put his paw on Falco's shoulder. "Falco…he's gone man. I'm sorry."

Falco grabbed Bill's paw and shoved it off his shoulder, "No! I won't give up, I won't!"

Katt slowly approached him, "I'm sorry Falco, Bill's right he's gone and there's nothing we can do about it now."

Falco stood up, picked up Fox's body and tossed it over his shoulder. Then they started to make their way back to the arwings. "Can you drive an arwing Katt?" Falco asked

"Yes I can. It's basically the same as my ship." Katt mused

When they arrived back at their ships Falco opened his cockpit placed Fox in the seat behind him and climbed in. He turned on his transmitter, "Falco to Great Fox."

Peppy answered his call with glee, "Falco it's so good to hear from you. How did the mission go?"

"Mission accomplished sir, we rescued Katt but…" Falco said with tears beginning to flow down his eyes.

Krystal appeared on the screen, "What is it Falco? You don't look so good."

The avian took a staggering breath, "It's Fox."

"Is he alright?" Both Peppy and Krystal asked.

Falco shook his head, "No." He looked away from the screen, "He's dead."

There was complete silence, no one said a word. Krystal's eyes glazed, "He's dead?"

"Yes, I'm sorry Peppy and Krystal he's truly gone from this world. We'll be back soon Falco out." Falco said turning off the communicator and quietly sobbing. Everyone started their arwings, put on their restraints, and they lifted off the ground and took off into space. They left the atmosphere and proceeded back to Corneria.

"Stop right there!" Andrew's voice was heard over the radio, and his ship appeared out of nowhere.

Falco and the others slammed on their breaks, causing them to thrust forward in their seats. "You don't think you all will get away alive did you?" Andrew boomed.

"Y…Yes…I think that's…what we originally…planned." A voice whispered from behind Falco. The falcon slowly turned his head around, "F…Fox?"

"What's up my…friend?" Fox staggered grinning at his best friend.

Falco was flustered, quickly turned on the radio and yelled, "Everyone, Fox is alive!"

"He's alive? Oh thank heavens!" Katt responded

"That's our leader he never gives up, even when he's dead." Bill chuckled with glee.

"So he's alive huh? Well I guess I'll have to finish the job Leo started." Andrew chortled.

Falco smirked, "You think you can take us, you and what army?"

The ape started to chuckle and soon his shoulders heaved with laughter. "What army?" Andrew inquired, "This one…Stealth Squadron appear, show them what their up against."

A fleet of ten to fifteen stealth ships appeared in front of the arwings poised and ready to attack. Falco and the others looked around at the army in their wake. The eagle turned on a private connection to Katt and Bill. "Does anyone have an idea of how to get the hell out of here?" Falco asked.

"Use…stealth mode…Falco." Fox told the avian. Falco looked back at Fox and nodded.

"Katt you see that blue button on the panel press it on my command. Activate stealth mode now!" Falco commanded. The arwings vanished into thin air and Andrew was baffled, but then quickly regained his confidence.

"Oh wow so your ships can disappear, big deal, that doesn't help you in the least." Andrew alleged. There was no answer. "I must bring an end to our relationships. Die!" Andrew roared, "Stealth Squadron open fire."

**A/N: "Oh no don't stop there." You say shaking the computer screen. Sorry but that's the perfect way to end chapter 3 I hope you enjoyed it. Once again I greatly appreciate all of my reviewers so far. One of them actually helped me with the end of the chapter in a way, thanks Sly Fox 03. Anyway the research paper is going great so far. It's due December 12th so just stay tuned for the next chapter it may be a while, but not 25 days like this time. In these reviews I'd really like to hear what you thought about Fox's "death". Did I shock you, bring a tear to your eye, drag you deeper into the chapter? What? Anyway thanks for your patience and see y'all. WEEEEEEE! runs away**


	4. Reunion

Chapter IV: Reunion

"Stealth Squadron open fire!" Andrew yelped into his transmitter. The squadron released barrage of their missiles in the direction of where the arwings were supposedly at. To the arrogant apes surprise there were no explosions the missiles had completely missed the arwings and disappeared in the vastness of space. Andrew tilted his head in confusion and glanced down at his radar, he noticed that the three arwings had disappeared from it. He got closer to the screen and squinted, "What the…" The squadron stopped firing, they were out of ammo. Andrew was baffled, he just couldn't figure out how the arwings had dodged that massive barrage of missile fire, and how they disappeared from the radar.

Falco's voice then blared over Andrew's intercom making him hop in his seat, "Yo freak show." Andrew gazed back down at his radar and three blips appeared on it. His eyes widened when he realized that the aircrafts were no longer in front of the small army, they were now behind the fleet. "Looks like you're out of ammo." Falco scoffed.

"Squadron about face." The ape commanded his army. The squadron did as they were told and flipped around to face the arwings.

"How did you get behind us?" Andrew asked with a hint of fury in his tone. He clinched his gloved fists and gently pounded down at the control panel of his giant ship.

The falcon chuckled, "It's called stealth mode genius."

"Watch you mouth you arrogant fool." The ape blared at his rival with the rage growing in his tone. "You may think you have won but the war is not over yet. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." A grin sheepish grin appeared on Oikonny's face, he certainly did have a plan B. The stealth squadron's missile cannons then transformed shifting several different times and took the shape of wings. "Heh, let's see how you handle this." Andrew alleged.

"Bring it on!" Falco exclaimed yanking his throttle towards himself.

The arwings began their assault and the squadron scattered in all directions. The falcon immediately started to tail one ship. He fired in the rear end of the craft, then the space craft executed a vertical loop. Now the stealth ship was tailing Falco, "Dang, these things are annoying. Fox hang on." Falco smirked as he jerked the arwing into an sharp banked curve downwards. Thanks to Slippy's upgrades to the arwings the turn was so quick that the stealth ship wasn't able to follow.

Meanwhile Katt tailed a ship and launched a charge shot at the craft making impact with the rear jet. The space craft lost the connection with the jets and the furry feline launched another charged blast causing the ship it struck to shatter into pieces. Meanwhile Bill was being tailed by another ship, he weaved up and down, left and right but nothing seemed to rid him of the nescience lurking behind him. The young hound glanced up and located a ship coming directly toward him, a grin stretched to either side of his mug, for he had a plan. He remembered how he had defeated Falco at the last moments of their battle. The engine was then pushed to full speed and Bill went on a direct collision course for the oncoming space craft. The tailing ship fired at the wings of the hounds arwing, but all of the attacks were useless, the hound did barrel roll after barrel roll making all of the lasers harmless to the arwing. The other stealth ship was just a few meters ahead of Bill and at the last possible second he carried out a vertical u-turn, and the tailing ship and the obverse ship collided and exploded into an enormous fireball of destruction. The three remaining ships soon realized that they didn't stand a chance and started to flee the scene. "I don't think so." Falco smirked. He locked his crosshairs on his arwing on the three escaping ships and launched a Smart Bomb. The ships were fleeing at full speed and the bomb slowly gained ground on the ships. Falco watched from a distance anticipating the explosion, and then…there was a flash. A hellish fireball appeared in the distance and reflected off the arwings. This told the falcon that his bomb successfully collided with the enemy; the stealth squadron was no more. "Well…mission accomplished." Falco said with a chuckle.

Katt also chuckled and gazed at the universe around her. She whipped her furry head around and soon realized that Andrew's battleship was missing in action. "Hey everyone, Andrew's gone!" Katt exclaimed.

"That coward, he fled!" Falco mused, "Ah well, he won't get that chance the next time we meet him. In the meantime let's return to Corneria and find out what's going on, on Venom."

The team pulled their throttles back and headed home to give their friends that Fox was still alive and kicking, and to find out what the hell this "secret weapon" is and what it may be used for.

**Peppy and the others** were gathered around staring at the blank monitor from where Falco had contacted them just moments ago. They still couldn't believe that their beloved Fox McCloud was "dead". The retired hare closed his eyes and quietly sobbed to himself, he remembered how his colleague and best friend James was killed back on Venom. A memory started to reel in his head:

* * *

"_Go Peppy get out of here!" James shouted holding his broken arm. "Go now before they get to you too." Peppy's eyes glazed with tears and held out his paw for James to grab on to. "James come on, escape while you have the chance!" Peppy pleaded._

_James refused Peppy's offer and wiped the blood off of his muzzle, "No I'll only slow you down. If you don't leave now you'll be killed also. Hurry GO before that dirty swine Pigma gets to my son." James dropped to his knees and winced in pain, his shattered arm was causing him plenty misery. His arm had been crushed while he was caught up in a brawl with Andross' minions. One of the horrid apes troops had socked him in the muzzle with their massive fist causing him to fall to the ground. Then the troop put his foot on James' arm and applied enough pressure to crush the bones inside. _

_Peppy slowly turned to leave his beloved friend to face his fate. Then as he approached the opening in the cell James called out to him. "Wait Peppy." The hare turned around and trotted at a quick pace back to his friend. James removed his black leather gloves and reflective blue sunglasses, "Here my friend, give these to Fox so he'll have something to remember me by." James' eyes filled with tears and he started to sob, "Tell him I love him, and I'll always be with him in his heart." He held out the gloves and glasses to Peppy. _

_The hare took the mementos and also started to weep. "Please James…please come with me, it doesn't have to end this way." Peppy continued to plea to his best friend._

_James just shook his head and started to reach for his blaster that was knocked out of his grasp when he struggled with the guards, when they first took him away to be tortured. "No! I've already told you, I'll only slow you down!" The vulpine exclaimed sternly. Footsteps were then heard approaching, "Hurry Peppy leave now…I'll distract the guards."_

_Two ape minions approached the opening in the cell, "Ok it's time to go Mr. McCloud." One of the apes mused approaching James._

"_You'll never take me alive!" James shrieked at the guards. He hurled his blaster at one of the apelike creatures and struck him square in his maw. The guard yelped in pain and grabbed his face. James looked up at Peppy who was still standing in the cells opening. "What are you doing Peppy? Go…NOW!" Peppy finally got the message and fled to James' arwing. When Peppy was out of sight the vulpine leapt into the air and rotated 360 degrees and landed a blow on the side of the other guard's countenance causing him to temporarily loose his equilibrium balance. He wobbled around and after regaining his composure seized his blaster and positioned it on the top of James' forehead. James froze in his current position, closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst._

_Peppy sprinted for the base's entrance and as he approached the doors he heard a gunshot and a body fall to the ground. Agony gripped his chest for he knew his friend was now gone. He gripped onto the precious mementos James had given him, and was determined to hand them to Fox when he got back to Corneria._

* * *

Peppy reopened his eyes and let out a deep sigh, he refused to believe that Fox was dead. He redirected his gaze at the others still gathered around in the room. "Everyone…I need some time alone please excuse me." The hare quietly stepped out and headed for his bedroom. Meanwhile Krystal headed outside to get some fresh air she needed to clear her mind. The little blue vixen approached the door, it slid open and she stepped outside. She wiped the tears from her eyes and gazed at the radiant blue sky. She suddenly sensed three life forms and an extremely faint fourth brainwave pattern approaching in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened, _"That other pattern…could it really be?" _She thought to herself hoping that the faint pattern was Fox. As the arwings approached the brain patterns got stronger, her hopes grew rapidly as the one faint pattern began to grow in strength, but it was still too weak to tell.

Slippy stepped outside and noticed that Krystal had a smile on her beautiful visage, "Krystal, w-what is it?" He asked standing by her side.

Her gaze was redirected to his eyes, "I sense a fourth brainwave pattern…but…it's too weak to tell who it is. I think it may be Fox."

Slippy gasped and put his hand over his orifice, "Co-could he still be a-alive?" The toad asked with glee in his tone. Krystal didn't answer, she just shrugged her shoulders. She closed her green eyes, all she could do now was wait.

A few minutes had passed. Krystal was now sitting on the concrete ground still gazing at the heavens when a small flash of light caught her eye. She quickly stood up and became anxious. It was the arwings they soared thought the atmosphere and started to approach the landing strip by the hangar. The ships gently landed on the concrete runway, and the blue vixen dashed towards them. The cockpit lids opened and Katt and Bill leapt down from the crafts. Falco stepped out of his cockpit and turned to Fox who was still out of it. "Fox here, take my hand." Falco said extending his hand to help his friend. Fox slowly lifted his paw and embraced Falco's. The falcon pulled the vulpine and Fox stood up. Falco draped his friend's arm over his shoulder and used the ladder located by the cockpit to climb down from the arwing.

"Fox, can you walk?" Falco asked after they climbed down from the arwing.

"I'll try." Fox answered softly. He raised his arm off Falco's shoulder and attempted to walk. The vulpine put his right foot in front of him and took a step, he stumbled. He took another step, again he stumbled.

Krystal approached the injured vulpine, "Here Fox, I'll help you." Krystal glanced at Falco, "I'll take it from here Falco, thanks for helping him."

"Not a problem, just holler if you need me." The avian mused, stepping inside.

The beautiful vixen took Fox's paw and guided him inside. Fox used Krystal as leverage so he would not fall if he lost his balance. The two trotted inside the Great Fox and Krystal led Fox to a sofa in the lounge. Fox plopped down on the soft sofa and sighed, it was so nice to be back among his friends and…well…girlfriend. Krystal sat down beside him and they gazed into each others eyes. "So you thought I was dead huh?" Fox asked with a grin on his mug. "Well I would be if it wasn't for this." Fox rose up his red and green striped shirt and showed the laser proof vest with two burn holes in it from where he was shot with Leo's blaster.

"Well I think you should go get some rest, you need it after what you've been through." Krystal said smiling at Fox. The vulpine grinned back and nodded in agreement, he stood up and turned to the vixen still propped on the couch.

"That's a good idea, I need a shower too but first there's someone I must say hi to." Fox mused walking away. He left the lounge and proceeded down the hallway, soon he came across an open door and gazed in it. He found Peppy facing away from the door in tears looking at numerous photo albums. Fox quietly approached the hare and put one of his paws on Peppy's shoulder. "What's up…Peppy?" Fox quietly mused.

The hare gasped and dropped the album he was looking at, recognizing the voice. He slowly rotated his head, "F-F-Fox?" He stuttered now looking directly at the vulpine's face. He hopped up from the floor and tears of happiness poured out of his eyes. "Fox you're alive!" Peppy embraced Fox and the vulpine yelped in pain causing the hare to jump back. "What's wrong Fox, are you hurt?" He asked worried that he had hurt the vulpine.

"Not really, my back is kind of bothering me though." Fox mused remembering when he slammed into the ground after being hurled over Leo's shoulders. He patted his friend on the shoulder, "Well it's nice to see you again, and now we need to get the info from Katt about this so called 'secret weapon' that Invictus is building." Peppy then smiled at Fox, wiped the tears from his eyes, and they both left the room.

* * *

**Falco and Katt **were in the medical ward where Katt was wrapping the falcons foot in medical bandages. "Katt what are you doing?" Falco asked rolling his eyes. Katt ignored him and continued to wrap his claw. She knew Falco enough to expect this kind of resistance from him. "Katt stop, my foot's fine." The falcon continued to plea to the furry feline. "Katt…" He was suddenly interrupted.

"Falco two words…shut…up. I'm wrapping your foot because I don't want this wound to become infected." Katt told the avian.

"It's just a flesh wound though, it will heal." Falco said looking down on Katt. She just rolled her eyes and finished tending to his claw.

"There I'm done Falco, are you happy now?" Katt smiled at her falcon friend. Falco smiled back and then the intercom activated and Peppy's voice was heard. "Everyone we need to gather in the debrief room right now, thank you." Falco then hopped off of the table in the ward and they both proceeded for the debrief room. They trotted down the hall and Fox and Peppy rounded the corner in front of them. They greeted each other and together strolled down the hallway, rounded another corner and arrived at the room where they spotted General Pepper, Krystal, Bill, and Slippy all sitting in chairs located around the table. Pepper held out his paw in front of him palm up, a signal for please take a seat. When everyone was seated Pepper started to speak.

"Greetings StarFox, I'm happy to hear that you successfully rescued our spy Katt from her predicament, nice job." Pepper alleged grinning at the team. He then redirected his gaze and glanced over to Fox. "I also heard you had a close call back on Katina Fox. Well I'm glad that you are ok…You are ok aren't you?" Pepper asked with concern.

Fox grinned at the hound and let out a slight chuckle, "Of course General, nothing can stop me."

"Heh, you definitely have your father's spirit in you Fox." General Pepper replied with his shoulders bouncing with silent laughter. "You always push forward no matter how big the obstacles are in front of you, that's very good to know, just don't get over confident. Now I think we should focus on the obstacle in front of us right now." The general once again redirected his gaze, this time to the furry pink feline reclined in the chair to his left. "So Ms. Monroe, what is the latest news on Invictus?"

Katt sat up in her chair which caused it to squeak slightly, "Well before I was captured and cut off from you, the last thing I heard was Invictus was building a weapon, and I overheard that this weapon could devastate the entire Lylat System."

Peppy clasped his paws together and rested his chin on them, "Well do you remember what this weapon was called? Did you hear a code name for it?"

The furry feline glanced over to Peppy and closed her eyes, and out her paw on her forehead desperately trying to remember a name. "Umm…let me see, I remember hearing something but it's hard to recall anything after Leo ambushed me and whacked me over the head." Everyone sat in silence for a few moments while the feline deeply thought about what she had heard. Suddenly she snapped her fingers, "I've got it. It was called the Gravity Bomb."

Peppy and the general closed their eyes at Katt's reply and grew very concerned. Meanwhile Falco chimed in, "Gravity bomb, isn't that the thing that…" The avian's voice trailed off he suddenly remembered what the gravity bomb was.

Peppy stood up and faced the wall, "Yes Falco it was the weapon that destroyed an entire squadron of the Cornerian Army back when James was head of StarFox. Luckily StarFox wasn't included in that particular mission. If we had been we would probably not be here at this moment."

Katt had a confused look on her face, she heard the news about the gravity bomb in the past when she got back from her out of galaxy trip. "So just what are we dealing with here? I mean what capabilities does this gravity bomb have?" She asked Peppy.

Peppy turned to her once again, "Well, the gravity bomb has the ability to create temporary black holes. Andross built one in the past and used it. He detonated it and the squadron we had patrolling Meteo was completely destroyed, they got sucked into the black hole when it was created."

Bill had his arms rested on the table, next to him Falco was reclined in his chair with his feet crossed and propped up on the table, you could tell he was extremely bored. The reason Andross had built the bomb in the first place was because, he thought that James McCloud was in charge of that patrol and wanted to take him out of the picture for good. The reason behind that was he was jealous of James' wife Vixy Reinard. Later after the gravity bomb incident Andross came up with another plan, place a bomb on James' car. There was a slight error in that plan as well, he planted the bomb on Vixy's car instead of James' so when Vixy went out on the town one day, she started the car and was vaporized.

General Pepper was growing worried, "If Invictus has rebuilt the gravity bomb, I'm sure it's much more powerful and has a greater blast range than the last one."

Peppy nodded his head in agreement, "Indeed, that's why we need to stop him at all costs. If we let him succeed at building it and using it he could wipe us all out. We don't want to relive what happened 10 years ago."

Everyone then understood their next mission, find the gravity bomb and eliminate it. Peppy dismissed the team, they all raised from their seats and headed for the door. Fox was the last to exit after Krystal and he raised his arms over his tan furred cranium to stretch. He then winced in pain and brought them down and pressed on his back with his paws, then let out a slight moan. Krystal turned around and caught Fox standing with his back against the wall. "Fox are you alright? You look as though you are in pain."

Katt overheard the conversation and chimed in, "Oh yeah, Fox you may want to get your back X-Rayed."

Krystal turned to the furry blue eyed feline and tilted her head in confusion. "X-rayed…why?"

Katt got closer to the blue vixen and put her paw on her shoulder, "See we were crawling through this vent shaft and when we reached the end of it this tiger named Leo grabbed me and yanked me through the end of the shaft." Krystal gasped and put her small blue paw over her muzzle. Katt continued, "I was lying on the ground looking down the barrel of Leo's blaster when Fox suddenly appears out of nowhere and jumps onto Leo's back. Then I saw him reach over and grabbed Fox by his collar then he threw him over his head. Next thing I know Fox is soaring through the air then BANG! He slams into the ground, and I don't mean just landed I mean really slammed into the ground." Krystal was just standing there, she had taken her paw away from her mouth and now she was standing there jaw agape. She turned back to Fox who was still standing there with his eyes closed and his back against the wall.

He opened up his eyes and glanced at the wall in front of him. "Actually, I would like to get my back checked out it's better to be safe than sorry." Fox alleged approaching the two women. Katt thought about what the vulpine just said and giggled slightly.

"That's not what Falco would do, he would rather die than go to a doctor." Katt said with a chuckle. "Well Fox you go to the ward and get the doc to X-ray your back and I'll see you all around. I'm going to just explore downtown for a while." Fox and Krystal waved goodbye as Katt rounded the corner.

* * *

**Doctor Kapline **a 6 foot tall brown furred simian, he was wearing a white coat with a stethoscope hung around his neck. He was parked at his desk signing health forms for the new recruits. He stopped and let out a sigh while he glanced up to the ceiling. "This is the only thing I don't like about this job, signing my name on the same thing over and over and over." He said to himself quietly. This was Dr. Kapline's second day on the job since Dr. Ray Hanson retired after 50 years of service. He began to sign again when the sound of a knock came from the sliding window in front of him. He reached up with his apelike paw and slid it open. Fox and Krystal were standing in the window pane, "May I help you?" Dr. Kapline asked with a polite tone.

Fox rested his arms on the little counter which was attached to the bottom of the sliding window. "Yes I have been having back pains recently and I think I need an X-ray."

Dr. Kapline smiled and nodded, and reached for a clipboard which was propped up against his computer. "Ok, all I need you to do is sign in here, and put your ID number here." The simian said pointing to the different spots where Fox needed to sign. Fox took the pen from Kapline and filled out the information on the clipboard and handed it back to him. The simian examined the name and raised his eyebrows, "So you are the one and only Fox McCloud eh? I've been looking forward to the day I could meet you. I've heard you've been on some very interesting missions in the past, well come on to the back." Kapline said motioning for them to come inside the office.

Fox and Krystal proceeded through the white office door, and stepped into a fairly large room with white and blue stripped wallpaper. Over to the left was Kapline's computer and health forms, to the right was a Cornerian calendar and some posters with health advice on them. The simian then pointed to another door, "Just wait in there I'll be with you shortly." The two stepped into another room only this one was slightly smaller and had red and green stripped wallpaper and had a bed. There was also a TV mounted on the wall with dresser drawers under it. The sound of machinery being pushed echoed throughout the office and Dr. Kapline appeared outside doorway with an X-ray machine. He attempted to push the machine into the room and hit the doorframe by accident. He pulled it backward and tried again. Success, the machine fit through the door. "Just have a seat on that bed Fox while I adjust this machine." He turned on the machine and a faint whirring sound was heard. Dr. Kapline punched a few buttons. Meanwhile Krystal took a seat in a blue chair right next to the door.

"So your name is…."Fox said trailing off.

"Kapline, Dr. Rod Kapline sorry for not introducing myself earlier. This is my second day on the job." Rod alleged, "Your name is Fox and yours is…." Rod said squinting and pointing his finger at the vixen who had a smile on her visage.

"Krystal, just call me Krystal, it's nice to meet you Dr. Kapline." Krystal said reaching out to shake his paw.

Rod took Krystal's paw and shook it, "Just call me Rod. Also what happened to make your back become bothersome?"

Fox and Krystal looked at each other, "It's a looong story Dr. Kapline." They both said together.

The X-ray machine made a beeping noise indicating that it was all ready to go. "Well Fox it looks like this machine is up and raring to go, so could you stand right there please?" Rod asked showing Fox where to stand. The vulpine went to the spot he was told to stand and the simian went behind the machine. "Oh Fox could you please remove your shirt, we don't want anything to interfere with the machine."

Fox's shy personality started to kick in, "D-do what now?" Fox stuttered. He glanced at Krystal who knew all well what was going on, she could barely contain the laughter bubbling inside her. She found Fox's shy personality cute and very fun to mess with, and she knew the shy vulpine well enough to know how to push his buttons.

"I said remove your shirt please." Rod asked a second time. The vulpine did as he was told he raised his green and red uniform shirt over his head revealing his furry abdomen and laid it on the bed. It had a snow white oval that reached starting from his muzzle down his neck right down to the end of his stomach, and was outlined by golden brown fur. The machine whirred and hummed, Rod quickly found the problem and turned off the machine. "It's nothing but a bruised backbone, you should be just fine Fox, it'll just be sore for a couple of days." The simian alleged leaving the room. "Let me just go get your papers and I can get you on your way."

Fox reached for his shirt and slipped it back on. Krystal started to chuckle slightly, "Now was that so hard Fox?" She asked jokingly.

Fox started to turn red, "It was a little bit."

"Why…is it because I'm a woman?" Krystal asked him continuing to push his buttons.

"Is this national Pick on Fox day or something?" Fox asked her shrugging his shoulders.

Krystal stood up from her chair, put her arms around him, and gently embraced the vulpine. "I'm sorry Fox, I'll stop now." Fox wrapped his arms around her as well and hugged her tight. "It's alright Krystal don't worry about it." Fox said gently.

"Well isn't that a nice sight…" Rod said out of nowhere. Krystal and Fox let go of each other and turned to see him standing in the doorway with a clipboard. "Well according to this chart Fox you are due for a blood test, so we'll just get that done right now." The simian pulled a syringe from his pocket and a small vile. He marched over to the counter on the wall, reached into a box and pulled out an alcohol swab. He ripped the paper open and took out the swab. "Fox hold out your arm please." Rod asked as he attached the vile to the back end of the syringe. "You will feel a slight pinch." The simian swabbed the vulpine's arm where he was going to extract the blood from and stuck the needle into his arm. Red liquid started to quickly fill up the vile…it was over. Kapline removed the needle and reached for a bandage and applied it to Fox's arm. "There we're all done here, so now you can be on your way."

They left the room and proceeded out of the office. As Fox and Krystal approached the door Fox turned around, "It was nice meeting you Rod and I hope to see you around."

"Likewise, thanks for stopping in and come back soon you hear?" Rod said waving goodbye.

The vulpine laughed, "Will do Dr. Thank you very much bye." The two waved bye and shut the door behind them.

Dr. Kapline raised the vile of Fox's blood to the ceiling, looked at it, and shook it around. A sheepish grin crossed his face and he let out a chuckle, "Thanks indeed Fox McCloud…Thanks indeed."

----To be continued


	5. Suspicions Arise

**A/N: For those of you who love looooong chapters, this one is for you (over 6500). Please R&R…enjoy!**

Chapter V: Suspicions Arise

Fox and Krystal exited the medical ward and proceeded back to the lounge. As they rounded the corner Peppy rounded the same corner almost causing a collision. Peppy startled almost dropped the mug of coffee he was carrying, "Hey Fox…Krystal, how are you two doing?" He asked with a grin and a nod.

"We are doing just fine, just got back from getting Fox's back x-rayed." Krystal acknowledged to the elderly hare.

Peppy slowly nodded, "Ah, so what did Ray say?"

Fox tilted his head in confusion, "Ray? Don't you mean Rod?"

Peppy shook his squinted his eyes and shook his head slowly, "No…I mean Ray Hanson. Where did you get the name Rod from?" Peppy asked taking a sip of coffee from his mug. "We haven't hired anyone new, if we had I would know about it." The grey hare looked out the window and stared into space in thought. A plane soared in the distance and some birds flew by, then Peppy looked back to the two foxes. "I'm going to run a check on this name…it was Rod Kapline right?"

"Yes sir it's Rod Kapline…K.A.P.L.I.N.E." Krystal alleged spelling out the last name for Peppy. He motioned for them to follow him to the lounge where his laptop was located. The doors to the lounge slid open and the three trotted through the doors and headed for Peppy's laptop which was placed on the coffee table. He set his coffee on the table and flipped the top open. Peppy sat down on the leather sofa in front of his computer, and Fox and Krystal parked themselves on the matching leather chairs adjacent to Peppy. The hare clicked a few keys and the Cornerian Army mainframe appeared with a login screen. Peppy put his name and password and clicked sign in. He successfully logged into the mainframe and clicked on staff and then name search. He typed in Rod Kapline and pressed enter. On the screen hundreds of names flowed on the screen at lightning speed, and soon "No results found" appeared on the screen. Peppy leaned back in his seat and folded his arms, "Just as I thought, there is no one by the name of Kapline anywhere on the staff list" He mused.

Fox looked at Krystal and she gazed back at him, "So what are you saying Peppy…This guy could be conspiring against us?" Fox asked while resting his paw on his chin.

Peppy looked up to the ceiling and sighed, "Possibly…we can't take any chances though. Just out of curiosity why do you ask?" Peppy said adjusting his glance at Fox.

"Well after he took my x-ray he came back saying that I was due for a blood test, so he took a small vile of my blood." The vulpine alleged noticing that Peppy's expression had turned to concern.

The soft furred hare then got up from the couch and began to pace in thought. "Fox…you have to somehow get that blood back from Dr. Kapline, there's no telling what he's up to."

Fox rested his paw on his chin and thought about how he could get his blood back and information about this "Dr. Kapline" at the same time. He thought of a plan he then opened his maw to speak then shook his head and continued to think. Falco strolled through the doorway, and got a glimpse of Peppy pacing back and forth and the two foxes staring off into space. He raised his eyebrows and shook his head slowly, "I'm not even going to ask." The avian snickered and disappeared through the opening on the other side of the room. Fox suddenly perked up and snapped his fingers, "I've got it, I think this is the best we can do."

"Lay it on us Fox, we are all ears." Peppy said with enthusiasm.

"What if I snuck into the office in the middle of the night when everyone is sleeping? I think that would be the safest time to get what we need." The vulpine mused with his fist still resting on his chin. He looked at the hare through the top of his eyes and waited for his answer.

After a few silent moments Peppy finally nodded his head, "Ok I think that's the best idea. We will do this at 2:30 AM."

Krystal gazed over at Fox, "Are you sure Fox, even in your current condition? Maybe I should go as well…just in case things go wrong." The furry blue vixen alleged.

"Yes I'm sure I can do this, Dr. Kapline just said I had minor bruising to my…wait…that's if he was telling the truth." Fox said realizing that his back could be truly injured if Kapline wasn't as he appeared. "Well none the less I have to do this, it's the only way to know the truth."

Krystal strongly disagreed with the vulpine, "Fox I really don't think you should do this. Let me do it instead…please." Krystal begged putting on her sad puppy dog face and looking the vulpine she loved square in the eyes. Most of the time when she did her typical guilt trick it worked 99 percent of the time.

That look made Fox's heart sink. He found it extremely difficult to resist that hypnotic look that the vixen would put on him. As much as he struggled to look away from her gaze he couldn't. "Well…you see I…err…p-please try to understand…I know that you are capable of doing this but…I just don't think it's safe." Fox stuttered trying to keep his mind off of the vixens gaze. "If you did go on this job and this Kapline was working with Invictus, he may capture you and hold you hostage or worse you could be killed, and I couldn't live with my self if something like that happened to you."

Krystal just remained silent and smiled. Although she didn't totally agree with what he said, but she greatly appreciated his concern for her and that made her love the vulpine even more.

"Then it's settled, Fox will search the office for information about Dr. Kapline at 2:30 in the morning." Peppy alleged going over the plan one more time. He reached for his coffee on the table and took a sip, "Well I have some other business to take care of so I'll see you two around." He mused saluting to Fox and Krystal and he trotted out the door.

The pair of foxes were the only ones left in the lounge, Fox let out a sigh and arose from the brown leather couch. He raised his arm and glanced at his watch, 1:13 pm. "_Time for a well deserved rest_" The vulpine thought to himself. At long last he had a chance to rest and relax his mind from everything that had happened to him in the past fourteen hours of his life. He had a chance to plan out how he would carry out his next mission, and had a chance to ask himself why. If Dr. Kapline was working against them why did he take his blood? Why would Invictus target Krystal? Could it be that she is the only soul in the entire universe that can destroy him? These were the questions that seemed to roll around in the realms of his complex mind. With all that on his mind he quietly strolled out of the room without saying one word. Krystal slowly stood up and a look of concern appeared on her bright visage. That was the first time that Fox ever left her without saying anything and that worried her.

Fox arrived at his door and it slid open. He passed through it and immediately kicked off his boots which revealed his golden brown paws. He proceeded to his bathroom, flipped on the light, and leaned over the sink. The sink was nickel silver with three touch sensitive pads, a red one for hot water, a blue one for cold water, and a grey one to turn the sink on and off. He took his thumb and gently placed it on the grey pad. The clear liquid came gushing forth like the Great Falls of Sauria. As the water was running he placed his thumb over the blue pad making it as cold as it could be. The vulpine cupped his paws and placed them under the icy water. He then took the water sitting in his paws, closed his eyes, and splashed it on his face, and beads of water ran off the soft furry hairs on his visage. He depressed the grey button and the water stopped as fast as it started. He reached over and took the green towel that was draped over the shower door and dabbed his soaked muzzle. Fox draped the towel back over the shower door and backed out of the restroom. He ambled over to his bed and lied down on his back, his eyes grew heavy in the dark room and soon he drifted off into a deep sleep.

There was a whisper, "Fox…" The mysterious voice echoed throughout the room, it was heard again, "Fox…" The vulpine slowly opened his green eyes only to see his father standing over him.

Fox shot up in his bed, "Dad?" He shouted with glee. He rubbed his eyes and looked again to see if this was just his imagination. When he took his paws away from his eyes his father still remained, standing by his side. He jumped off the bed and hugged his father with all of his strength.

"Well…I…see you are still as strong as ever Fox." James strained to say while being squeezed by his son. Fox loosened his grip and was flustered at seeing his father again, his paws twitched with joy and a few tears escaped his sea green eyes. James put his paw on his sons shoulder, "My…how you've grown up. Just look at you, you've grown into one handsome young vulpine. It seems like only yesterday I was bringing you home from the hospital." James alleged admiring his grown up son. Fox beamed at his father's comment, what he heard made him feel very proud of himself.

"But dad…I thought you were dead." Fox said looking into his fathers sea blue eyes.

James took his paw off his sons shoulder, "I am Fox…I'm reaching to you through your mind thanks to your lady friend."

"Krystal?" Fox asked.

James nodded his dark golden head, "Yes and what a fine woman she is Fox. She must mean everything in the world to you right?" Fox nodded in agreement. "Well don't let her slip out of your grasp. I think you two have a future together."

Fox's face lit up with excitement, "D-do you really think I have a chance with Krystal?" He asked with a giddy tone.

James gave a huge grin to his son and chuckled at the way Fox responded to him, "Yes…Indeed I do my son." James' tone suddenly grew serious which immediately grabbed Fox's full attention, "Now Fox listen, you must be totally aware that Invictus is dangerous, extremely dangerous. It's like dealing with Andross on a whole new level. As you may as well be aware of now, he totally wiped the planet Cerinia off the map." Fox just remained silent and nodded. "He has powers beyond imaginable, he can use his mind to make people do his bidding, he can crush his enemies minds causing pain beyond anyone's comprehension, and that's just the beginning." James mused. "Just remember my son, if you ever come into contact with him…use extreme caution, I don't want you to end up like I did with Andross."

Fox let out a big grin to his father, "I won't father don't you worry, I'll make sure Invictus wishes he was never born."

James reached out and rubbed the top of his son's soft furred head, "That's just like you Fox…as brave as can be, you have always been like that and I know that will never change." James started backing up towards the door, and Fox started to follow. James held up his paw to signal his son to stop following. "I'm sorry Fox but you have to stay behind."

"Why? Where are you going?" Fox asked eyes glistening.

The door to the room slid open and a bright white light shot through the door making Fox recoil, "I'm going back to a place where you will eventually come to, but not for a very long time." James winked at his son, "Goodbye for now…Fox." James waved to his son and disappeared into the light and it grew less and less as the door slid shut.

The vulpine's eyes slowly opened up and saw Krystal standing over him with her paws resting on his head. She squinted her glistening green eyes and let out a silent smile. "Are you alright Fox?" She asked sweetly. "You seemed…uneasy when you left the lounge."

"I just had a lot on my mind, that's all." Fox said beginning to sit up in his bed. "Krystal…thanks…I didn't know you could transfer spirits of the deceased into others minds."

"Yes it's nice ability but I don't use it often, it causes too much stress on my mind, plus sometimes it can painful to use." The vixen said lightly rubbing her forehead. "I just thought I'd use it to cheer you up. I know how much you love your father so I decided to help out a bit."

Just then there was a pounding outside the door, it was Falco. "Fox! Fox, open the door there's something I want to show you."

The panicking tone of the avian's voice alarmed the vulpine and made him think something had happened. The door flew open and Falco was standing in the doorway holding up a hardware magazine that was full of new weapons that were being sold at the hardware store. The avian was pointing at a three barreled rocket launcher, "Dude I've been waiting ages for this baby to come out. We've got to get some for the team."

Fox rolled his eyes, "Falco another weapon? Don't you think we have enough of them already?" Fox could not stop this weapon crazed eagle, he knew that nothing could stop him from buying a new weapon, especially one like this. He was jumping around like a fox cub in a candy store, he really wanted that rocket launcher.

"Fine Falco lets go, I need to get out anyway." Fox alleged raising his arms above his head and stretching out his muscles. Falco jumped from the doorway and Fox looked back at Krystal who was standing just behind him. "I swear he can be just like a kid can't he?" Fox mused chuckling under his breath.

The small blue vixen nodded and chuckled along with him. "Hey Krystal, my brain just hatched an idea. Why don't you come with us, you haven't been out all day."

"Oh thanks for the offer Fox but I think I should stay here. I know I'd be safe with you and Falco but just in case Dr. Kapline is conspiring against us, I think I should be the defense…just in case." Krystal chimed.

"Alright then I'll see you later, if you ever feel like you are in danger call me." The golden furred vulpine mused heading for the door. He stopped just short of it turned around and winked at Krystal.

* * *

"**What?" **Invictus' deep booming voice roared through out the room. "What do you mean he's still alive? Didn't I specifically tell you to take care of him?" He was a white bearded ape with a bionic eye that was taking the place of his where his left eye used to be. He quickly stood up and gave a haunting gaze to the poor soul he was screaming at, it was Andrew. "I swear if you weren't my great nephew I'd kill you in the most horrible way possible." The tyrant gritted his teeth and slammed his fist into the table and it cracked from the middle to the top. Andrew jumped when his huge fist clashed with the table he had never seen Invictus this furious before. A small buzzing sound was heard coming from the left side of the room where a small transporter was stationed on a small table. Invictus marched over to the small device and depressed a blue button, a small click was heard followed by a hissing sound signaling the decompression of the air. The device opened revealing a small vile filled with red liquid. Invictus quickly took the vile from inside the device and gazed at it. Then a vile grin appeared on his façade and he spun around, "At last…after all of this time I've finally gotten it, Fox McCloud's blood." He rapidly ambled over to Andrew and held out the vile to him, "Take this down to the lab."

Andrew looked at the vile and then back at Invictus, "Now?"

Invictus placed his simian paw on his head and shook it, "No tomorrow egg head…Now go ahead." Andrew quickly left with no questions asked, and as soon as he was out of sight Invictus bowed around and scoffed, "Now…what a moron."

* * *

"**There she is." **Falco awed at the crimson red rocket launcher displayed in the window just outside of the hardware store. "Fox we've got to get some for the team, do you realize how unstoppable we would be with one of these things?" Falco reached out his feathered hand to push the door open.

"Falco…?" A voice was heard in the distance.

The avian's ears twitched, the familiar voice caught his attention. He gazed back around the corner to see a red feathered eagle wearing a blue and green sports jacket running up to him. Falco's eyes went wide, "Oscar!" He shouted shaking his friends hand. "Man I haven't seen you since I left the old gang."

"Yeah I know, dude how come you quit?" The scarlet colored falcon asked.

Falco crossed his arms, "It just wasn't my thing"

Oscar approached his long lost friend and nudged his shoulder, "Heh…It wasn't my thing either, I quit the Dark Serpent about four weeks ago." He chuckled, "Oh and who's your friend?"

Fox extended his paw, "Fox McCloud, lead pilot of the StarFox team."

Oscar quickly jolted his head back and his russet eyes went wide, "You? You are THE Fox McCloud? Wow, it's such an honor to meet you I've heard some awesome stories about you and your team. I only wish I could meet the other members of the team." Falco cleared his throat and an egotistical grin stretched from either side of his visage. Oscar just stared at his avian friend at disbelief and shook his cranium slowly, "No freaking way. Falco…you are part of the StarFox team?"

Falco's ego was starting to kick in, "Yep…I'm the ace pilot of the team." The avian said brushing the shoulder of his blue and yellow shirt with his wing.

Oscar gazed in awe, "I figured, you always were the best pilot of the gang." The avian spun his head flicking the feathers on his head, "So what are you doing here in the first place?"

Falco pointed at the rocket launcher hanging on display in the window, "That…that's why were here. I've been waiting for ages for this beautiful thing to be released."

The ruby feathered avian nodded and grinned, "Yeah, I own one…it's a legend launcher man, you must get one." Falco was just about to chime in when Oscar raised his wing to halt him from speaking, "That is…if you have enough cash."

Falco shook his head, "Man whatever lets just go inside."

The shimmering glass doors were pushed open and a bell was heard alerting the shopkeeper that he had customers. A red wooden door in the back of the store creaked open and a grey furred fox appeared holding a clipboard. He strolled over to the counter where the cash register was and set it down and glanced up at his customers. "Names Simon Palmer mates, how can I help you?" He alleged in a british tone.

The blue avian pointed in the direction of the window, "Do you have any of those in stock?"

Simon raised his eyebrows, "Ah those X-class models just came in yesterday, but they've been extremely popular and we ran out the very first day." Falco growled under his breath. "Oh don't fret sir I'll place you on order and they will be in, in about three days."

The avian shrugged his shoulders, "Well that's better than nothing."

The grey vulpine brought up his clipboard, "How many can I put ya down for mate?"

Falco thought for a moment, "Seven." Simon scribbled the notes on his clipboard.

"Ok let me crosscheck your order…it's seven X-class crimson rocket launchers, that comes to…" Simon handed the clipboard over to Falco and the avian's jaw dropped.

Oscar guffawed at the sight of his avian friend, "See, it's not cheap is it Falco?"

Falco gazed up and sighed, "No s Sherlock, hell no it's not cheap."

A wide grin came along the other avian's mug and he brought a small black book out of his jacket pocket. "I'll pay for them, this will be a gift for the StarFox team for all the times you all have saved the Lylat System." He flipped open the black book to write a check to pay for the massive rocket launchers.

Fox lowered his eyebrows, "You don't have to pay for them we can take care of it. Also this may be a bit harsh but…you don't seem very tough for a former gang member, and I mean that in the nicest possible way."

Oscar stopped writing and redirected his gaze to fox, "Is that so? Is that a challenge?" Before the vulpine could speak the avian continued, "I'll tell you what...I challenge you to a sparring match and if you win you can pay, but if I win I'll pay for these bazookas."

Fox reached out his paw and shook Oscars wing, "It's a deal I'll meet you at the sparing rink across the street."

The avian shook his head, "No need my friend through that door over there is this warehouse's personal rink." He alleged pointing to a red door on the opposite side of the room.

"Nice, I never knew that was there." Fox mused.

The duo stepped through the door and grabbed the equipment sitting on the shelves by the rink. Fox slipped the red padded helmet over his head and attached his red gloves. On the adjacent side of the room Oscar did the same with his blue gear. The dueling duo climbed through the ropes of the ring. The avian started warming up his muscles doing a series of stretches. "I've always dreamed of fighting the Fox McCloud, now I'm getting my chance. And I'm going to win!"

Fox approached his opponent and they both gently tapped each others fists as a sign of good sportsmanship. "We'll see, lets begin." Fox mused and he brought his gloved fist up and hopped around.

The two strafed back and forth around each other trying to predict who would make the first move. Oscar lurched forward and swung his fist at Fox's visage who leaned back making the avian's fist miss completely. Fox countered bringing his paw directly in contact with Oscar's stomach. The eagle grabbed his abdomen and Fox launched an uppercut in his jaw causing him to stumble back into the black ropes surrounding the arena. Oscar charged towards the readied vulpine leapt into the air and performed an aerial kick. As his foot approached fox's body the vulpine extended his gloved arm and caught it, and with all of his strength tossed the avian to the other end of the arena. Oscar flew across the ring and landed on his stomach. He then rolled onto his back and his eye caught Fox in the air with his fist pulled back, he let out a silent "whoa", rolled to the left and Fox's paw slammed into the padded floor.

The two quickly got to their feet and caught their breath. They were both sweating and panting heavily, Fox gazed up at Oscar who's shoulders were heaving he didn't expect him to be this strong. "Wow, I-I was de-definitely wrong about you Oscar." Fox staggered trying to catch his breath. "You are quite the skilled fighter." He reached up and wiped the sweat from his fuzzy forehead.

Oscar staggered a laugh, "heh…I told you I was tougher than I look…shall we continue?"

Fox gritted his teeth to pump himself up and put up his paws. Oscar sprinted towards the vulpine dropped himself to the floor and swept his foot under Fox's causing the vulpine to loose his footing and plunge to the ground. When the vulpine hit the ground he quickly launched himself back to his feet. His communicator suddenly chirped, startled he jumped back and answered the call. "Yeah?" Fox said into the communicator.

Peppy's voice staggered in a raspy voice, "Fox…Fox are you there?"

Fox lowered his eyebrows, "Peppy what's wrong? Are you alright you sound hurt?"

"It…it just happened so fast we didn't know what to do." Peppy's voice was shaky.

Fox was becoming concerned, "Peppy what happened over there, what's going on?"

"I-it was Dr. Kapline, you were right he w-was working for In-Invictus, he attacked us and…and…." Peppy was now starting to sob.

Fox's eyes were huge now, he was frightened and nothing could prepare him for what he heard next. "Peppy calm down, just calm down and tell me what else happened?" The vulpine mused, trying to be as calm as possible. There was a strong silence the hare didn't respond to the question. "Peppy!" Fox shouted.

A small gasp escaped the soft furred hare his reaction to Fox's yell, "I'm sorry Fox…I'm so sorry but…but…he kidnapped Krystal."

Fox's hands started trembling and he dropped to his knees, "No…Kry-Krystal this can't be happening." Waves upon waves of guilt filled the vulpine's body, "It's my fault, if I hadn't of left that damn ship none of this would have happened…I'm sorry."

"Fox listen, it's obvious that Kapline knows you'll find him and come after Krystal so he's obviously plotting something." Peppy assumed. "Adding..to..th..a…t…ther…" The communicator grew into static.

"Peppy are you there…Come in Peppy." Fox mused tapping his device.

"Greetings Fox McCloud, do you know who this is?" A familiar voice echoed out of the communicator.

The vulpine gritted his teeth, "Kapline!"

A vile laugh crawled out of the device, "That's correct but call me Gemini, I'm sure you know I have a little friend with me."

A small frightened voice was heard in the background, "Fox help me, please hel…"

"Shut up, no one said you could talk!" Gemini smacked her across her fragile maw.

The sound of the simian striking Krystal enraged Fox beyond his limits, "Keep you hands off her, I swear on my life you will pay for what you've done!" The vulpine mused through closed teeth.

"I'll tell you what, leave the building you are in and go to the phone booth at the corner of Onctaria and Juniper. I'll give more instructions when you get there." Gemini said then the communicator clicked off before Fox could speak. The vulpine ripped off his red padded helmet and gloves and leapt off the arena. He started sprinting out the door when Oscar's voice was heard.

"Fox wait…let me help you out, I know what it feels like to lose a loved one and I won't let that happen to you." The avian mused, taking off his equipment.

"Oh wait mate take this." Simon held out a blaster to Fox, "Now show those bloody bastards that mess with one person and you mess with Corneria."

Fox took the blaster, gave a slight nod and charged out the door. He shoved open the glass doors and the phone booth caught his eye. The vulpine examined the area around the booth to make sure it wasn't a trap. Everything seemed in order, he slowly approached it and stood there not knowing what to do next. The phone started to ring and the vulpine reached up and took the receiver off the hook. "Hey you followed my instructions good job. Now this is what I want you to do next, you see that blaster in your hand?"

A chill ran down Fox's spine he had realized that he was being watched by Gemini. "Y-yes…what about it?" Fox stuttered, he started to look around the area to see if he could spot where he was hiding.

A giggle was heard in the phone, "Don't bother looking for me you won't find me. Now listen carefully, point that gun at your friend in front of you." Gemini demanded calmly. Fox adjusted his gaze from the gun to who was standing before him, it was Falco.

The vulpine's heart sank, "No, I refuse!" Fox shouted into the phone.

Gemini clicked his tongue, "Oh I don't think you want to refuse, of course if that's your final answer you know what I'll do next." The sound of a charging gun was heard which unleashed surges of fear through both Krystal and Fox's bodies. "So…is that your final answer?" The simian sauntered behind Krystal and placed the machine gun to the back of her delicate blue head and waited for an answer.

"W-wait…I-I'll do it." Fox mused raising the gun aiming at Falco. The avian's eyes widened and he slowly put up his hands. Pedestrians started panicking and quickly made distance from Fox.

"Fox, what are you doing? Put the gun down." Falco mused as calmly as possible

"I'm sorry Falco…I'm so, so sorry." Fox said tears starting to flow down his eyes. "I have always cherished our friendship…always." Fox depressed a button and then he began charging the blaster. "Forgive me my friend."

Falco held out his hands in front of him, "Fox wait…" Fox fired and a light blue laser struck Falco and he plunged to the cold ground.

"Nice job I personally didn't think you would go through with it." Gemini's vile voice echoed in entertainment.

"I-I've done it…now let Krystal go." Fox pleaded.

"Goodbye McCloud…" That's the last thing the vulpine heard before the sound was cut of from the receiver.

"Wait you promised!" Fox shouted holding the receiver in front of his face. He pulled it away from his visage, gritted his razor sharp teeth and slammed the phone back on its hook. "Damn!"

Meanwhile Oscar was staring at his friend's lifeless body, hands trembling with terror. He slowly gazed up at Fox and slowly began to back away. "W-what have you done? Y-you shot m-my best fri-friend." Further and further he backed away in fear that Fox may shoot him as well.

"Oscar relax, he's not dead. I set it to stun right before I shot him, he should wake up in about an hour." Fox mused. Oscar shut his eyes and let out a hard sigh of relief. Fox continued, "In the meantime Gemini is watching us as we speak, so we have to make this look like he's really dead."

Little did the vulpine know he was being watched through the scope of a sniper rifle located in a skyscraper just across the street. Looking down the scope was none other than that ruthless simian Gemini. Krystal was tied up in a chair right behind him. She wiggled her hands and feet trying to slip out of the ropes. She successfully wormed her hands out of the coiling ropes and they fell to the floor, next…her feet. She suddenly heard the charging of the rifle, which told her she only had a little time left to save Fox from certain death. The vixen twisted her feet back and forth and the ropes slowly started to inch their way down her ankles. Success the ropes were loose enough to allow her to slip her feet though them. Quietly she raised herself from the chair turned around clutched the bottom of the chair with one paw and grabbed the back portion with the other, and lifted it over her head.

"You're a dead fox now." Gemini's vile voice whispered.

Krystal tip toed behind the simian and slammed the metallic chair over his head. He yelled in pain and fired the rifle, the red laser traveled out of the window directly at fox's head. It skimmed the fur on the top of fox's cranium, he ducked in reflex and glanced in the direction in which he felt the laser skim his fur. It was at that moment he realized that Gemini was hiding in the tower just across the street. Fox signaled a police officer to come to him.

A security officer ran up to the vulpine then looked down on the ground to see Falco's semi-lifeless body lying on the ground. "Oh my god what happened here?" The officer shouted.

"Listen don't worry about him he'll be fine, just stay with him…ok?" Fox commanded the officer.

He nodded unsure of what was going on and then vulpine signaled Oscar and they both darted across the street. An oncoming car was drifting down the road and the driver caught eye of the two running across the street. He took his foot and slammed down on the brake pedal and the car came screeching to a halt just inches from the duo. The driver hung his head out the window, "Hey what the hell is your problem?"

Meanwhile Gemini groaned and staggered to his feet, then he redirected his gaze to Krystal and growled, "Wrong move." He turned and grabbed his blaster beside the rifle, and turned to shoot the blue vixen. As he turned Krystal swirled around with a roundhouse kick, knocked the blaster out of his hand and it slid across the carpeted floor. The simian closed his teeth and turned his head to his blaster, then turned it back just in time to see another foot heading straight at his maw. It landed with a 'smack' and he twisted 180 degrees in the air, landed on his stomach. He groaned and pushed himself to his feet. The simian leisurely twisted his head and his neck bones crackled. Krystal had her paws up, she was ready for anything and felt as though she had the upper hand. Gemini slightly turned his head and looked out of the corner of his eye at her and silently started giggling. The volume of his laughter increased as he reached over and tapped on a device on his wrist. The vixen gasped when she started to notice Gemini disappearing. Little by little he vanished until he was no more. She strafed around the room, it was dead silent not a sound was heard. She felt a tap on her shoulder and she wildly swung her fist behind her only damaging the air.

She emptied her mind of all thoughts and shut her glistening eyes. Gemini's brainwaves ran through her superior mind, then her ears twitched and she fiercely kicked out in front of her. A strident scream was heard and the simian reappeared holding his groin. He stumbled back into the wall and slid down to the cold floor. His breathing was staggered and the ape glanced up at the blue vixen, "I…h-hate you…" He sternly declared. Krystal shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to him. Gemini rotated his head to the left and gazed down at the floor. His blaster was lying by his leg, he reached his tan paw over and lifted it off the floor. He aimed it at Krystal's azure back.

"No!" Fox's reassuring voice was heard, he dove at Gemini, the apes gun was forced to the right as he pulled the trigger. The shot went wild and traveled through the window shattering it into pieces and glass fragments scattered all over the ground. Fox then grabbed the apes black shirt and forcefully smacked him across his mug. Gemini returned the favor, he thrust his left fist forward smacking the vulpine in his maw which forced him away.

Both of them staggered to their feet and stared each other down. Gemini suddenly bent down and picked up a large razor sharp fragment of glass. He swiped it at the vulpine's throat and it shimmered in the sun with every swing. Fox swayed left and right dodging the simian's attacks.

With his next swing the vulpine grabbed Gemini's wrist and gave it a hard twist. The bones were heard cracking in the body part. The ape cried out in pain and before he could put down his blaster to grab his wrist he was grabbed from behind by Oscar. The avian wrapped his arm around the simian's neck and held him in a head lock. They ambled around the room struggling with each other. Gemini struggled to get free from Oscar's grasp, he pointed his blaster behind him and fired. A shot rang out from the firearm. The laser passed through Oscar's chest and out of his back. With one last attack the avian let go of the head lock and shoved Gemini towards the open window. The eagle then collapsed to the ground. The ape stumbled and plunged to the ground, he rolled toward the window clawing with his paws trying to desperately grab anything that would keep him from plummeting out the window. There was nothing, he rolled out the window catching the ledge as he fell. He whined in agony, when he caught the ledge he slammed his brown furred paw down on a jagged piece of glass. Blood gushed out from the top of his hand and dripped off the ledge. He felt the red stained piece of glass slicing through his paw. "Please help me…please…don't let me fall." Gemini pleaded for his life. Further and further the glass traveled up his hand, he could feel his life literally slipping away. He glanced down behind him to see he was hundreds of feet above the surface of Corneria. Gemini gazed back only to find Fox staring down at him. He begged Fox for help but he only refused. "I can never forgive you for what you've done." Fox said in a cold tone. The last inch of skin was cut through and Gemini plunged to the ground below. Gemini fell 10 stories…35…50…75, then he slammed onto a car parked below. The roof of the car flattened and the windows popped and with his last and final breath Gemini cursed Fox's name.

The vulpine quickly turned and ran to Oscar's side, Krystal was holding up his head. "Oscar…my god…are you ok?" Fox asked.

Oscar grinned and gazed up at Fox, "I'm not going to make it." He choked. A pool of blood was formed around his body.

A tear formed in Fox's eye, "Don't say that…we will get you to a hospital and get you well."

The avian struggled and held up his wing, "Don't worry about that, I did what I could and that's all I care about."

Fox then realized that he couldn't win this argument, "I'm sorry you got dragged into this, but thank you for all you've done."

Tears formed in all of their eyes they could see that their friend was slipping away. "I-it's not a problem…It was an honor fighting…at your side." Oscar's pupils grew small and his head slumped over to the side…he was gone.

Fox put his paw on the avian's visage and slid it over his eyes closing them. Krystal set her paw on Fox's. "Goodbye Oscar, you were a great fighter and friend and we will never forget you." Fox mused, tears rolling down his face.

**A/N: Ok...I almost ran out of material and I feel like I got a little lazy in my writing and if I did I'm sorry. I'll say this...I love writing but 6000 words is a little much for me to write so I'll just keep it between 5000 and 5500 alrighty? I really appreciate all of my readers and fans, I'll keep writing for everyone and no matter how difficult it gets for me...I'LL NEVER GIVE UP. But for right now I'm putting this story on hold and I'm going to start a second FanFiction...StarFox Adventures: Directors Cut...This will be a side story until I can think of more material for this one. Once again thanks for all of your support and consideration.**


	6. A Golden Moment

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE AT THE END…READ IT…IT INVOLVES A VERY SPECIAL AND VERY INTERESTING SCENE THAT I COULDN'T RELEASE ON FANFICTION! But read the chapter first please! **

A/N: Well everyone…I'm back, after about a month or two from the last chapter, it was an awesome break and I'm glad to be back to please my fans…I've been doing some thought on the chapter length and I've come to the conclusion that 5000-6000 words is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much for me! It was nice but it just took me too long to update…So I'm going to shorten up my chapters, but make more of them, that way it'll give me more ways to think of how to torture you all with cliffhangers! MUAHAHAHA! So the story will be just as long as I planned it from the time I started, it'll just have more chapters…enjoy!

Chapter VI: A Golden Moment

Fox knelt by his fallen comrade, he held back his tears of despair and gazed up at Krystal. "Krystal, why does this keep happening to us? Why can't this all just go away?" Fox quietly asked.

The vixen gazed softly into Fox's eyes she didn't know what to tell him. She put her paw on Fox's shoulder knelt down beside him and softly kissed his muzzle. "Fox I'm sure whatever Invictus is trying to do, we will stop him…I just know it." Krystal said trying to reassure her beloved Fox.

A small smile stretched on Fox's visage and put his paw around her soft blue stomach. "Thanks Krys, that's just what I needed. Now what are we going to do with Oscar's body?"

Krystal gazed at the avian's lifeless body and on his face she could see a slight grin. "The only thing to do is call the medical squad." She mused still looking at Oscar. The vixen ambled over to the phone hanging on the wall. She took it off the hook and dialed the emergency medical number. "Hello? Yes we need to have the medical squad come to the Corneria City Bank Tower on 4736 Juniper drive, we have a body that needs to be picked up….Thank you." Krystal hung up the phone, "They will be here in less than five minutes."

Fox acknowledged her with a grin and a nod then adjusted his gaze back to Oscar. "He went out in a blaze of glory…that's the best way to go. How are we going to tell Falco? He's going to be really pissed off." The vulpine said rising off the floor. Krystal shrugged her shoulders.

"Guuuh what the hell happened?" Falco groaned waking up from his small coma. He felt a slight pain in his chest and looked down to see a small burn mark on his vest. The avian then recalled Fox acting really strange then it was all blank. The eagle sat down on the curb, rested his elbows on his knees and rubbed his eyes.

"Mate…are you alright?" Simon asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah…I'm alright." Falco said still a little dazed from when he was knocked out cold. He took his hands away from his eyes and gazed up to see the wrecked car that Gemini had landed on. "What the freakin' crap, what happened here?"

The ash grey vulpine shook his head, "Mate I have no bloody clue…it's been as crazy as hell since your friends went up in that tower. Your mate um…Fox had asked me to watch you when you were out cold, I was sitting here minding my own business when I hear a crash and see glass fall out of the tower. Then a few minutes later I see that guy hanging out of the window. Then all of a sudden he falls to his death." Simon said pointed to the trashed car and body.

Falco stood up and started making his way across the street to the wreckage. He slowly approached the car, and looked over at the bloodied corpse. Falco winced and stepped back, for once something was too horrific for him to handle. He took several steps over, and then the sound of sirens echoed throughout the city. A few police vehicles and an ambulance rounded the corner, now Falco was becoming concerned. The vehicles stopped short of the building and medics and cops started to jump frantically out of their vehicles. Two medics went to the back of the ambulance and pulled out a stretcher, then started running up to the building. Falco stepped in front of them, "Wait…what is going on?"

"Sir out of the way, we have a situation." The marmoset medic said calmly.

Falco refused to let them through, "No not until you tell me what the hell is happening."

The other medic was slightly more impatient, "Hey just get out of the way it's none of…." His partner held up his paw signaling him to stop talking.

"All we know is that we were called in to pick up a body…that's it" The marmoset alleged.

The avian thought for a moment, _"Wait…if that body is there and there going inside to pick one up that means…oh damn" _Falco ran for the door to the tower and then called back, "What floor is it?"

"Just lets us lead you, we are going up there anyway!" The medic called back. The avian answered with a nod and the group headed up the tower. Falco flung the glass doors open causing them to slam against the wall. They sprinted to the elevator and the avian slammed the up button and he impatiently tapped his foot. "Come on you damned thing." Falco frustratingly commented to himself. The elevator reached the ground floor and the trio rushed inside, the doors sliding shut behind them. The whirring of the gears was heard as the elevator rushed to the eighth floor.

The shaft reached the floor and the doors opened with a small ding. The two medics exited first wheeling the stretcher to the location they were told to go. The avian followed closely behind and rounded the corner and came to a dead halt in the doorway. He saw his best friend and companion, Oscar, lying in his own blood. Fox tilted his head to the door, and saw Falco standing there eyes wide. "Falco…." Fox started to say. The avian turned from the doorway and leaned his back against the wall.

"Falco listen…he gave his life for us. He saved us from Gemini." Fox alleged softly to his avian friend. Falco sighed heavily, he knew there was nothing he could do about it.

"So he died a hero huh?" Falco asked calmly.

"Yes Falco…he died a hero." Fox said back smiling brightly.

The avian trotted into the room and knelt down by Oscar. Something that no one ever sees appeared on his visage, a tear. Fox slowly approached him and patted him on the back, "Hey it's ok, I know how you feel…believe me bro, when I lost my dad…" The vulpine stopped sort of his sentence, he didn't want to depress Falco any more than he already was. "Sorry if I…" Fox started up again placing his paw around the nape of his neck.

The avian looked up at him and smiled, "Not a problem, it's ok." Falco stepped out of the way to let the medics put Oscar in a black body bag. They placed it on the floor and unzipped it, then picked up the deceased avian's body and placed it inside. As they zipped up the bag Falco could have sworn he saw a small smile arise from Oscar's visage as the bag zipped to the top. Falco placed his winged arms below the bag and helped the medics place it on the stretcher, and said some final words for his friend before they took him away. "Goodbye Oscar, you were like a brother to me…I'm glad you went out with a bang, and I remember you telling me that, that's how you would like to die…a hero."

Everyone headed down to the lobby, and Fox shut the door behind him. The elevator hit the ground floor and they poured out of it, on lookers staring at the body bag, un aware of what just happened. They got outside into the fresh air and placed the body in the ambulance and sped away sirens blaring. Falco watched it as they rounded the corner at the end of the street. Falco felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned to see Katt looking into his eyes. "Katt…" He said softly.

She hugged him tightly, "Oh Falco…I'm so sorry, I heard all about it." She said her head rested on his shoulder.

Falco brought his wings around her body and hugged her tightly, "I'm ok Katt...there's nothing I can do about it now."

* * *

**Peppy staggered to his feet** awakening from the surprise attack from Gemini. He looked over and caught sight of Slippy also coming around from being out cold. "Slippy, are you alright?" He called out across the room.

The zoned out toad staggered to his feet and turned, "Yeah I'm fine…what about you?"

Peppy sighed a long sigh and looked around at the wreckage in the room, "I'm good too…that's the most important thing, we are both safe and sound."

"Peppy!" A familiar voice called out making Peppy's ears perk, he glanced over to see Fox and the others standing in the doorway. He let out a hard sigh of relief and took a step towards them stumbling slightly. "Whoa Peppy take it easy…" The vulpine said rushing to his aid. He placed his paw behind the hares back and ambled him over to the dark leather couch and sat him down, sitting beside him. "Now tell me exactly what happened here." Fox alleged. Peppy took a deep breath and his story began…

"Well Fox…" The hare was interrupted by a small dulcet voice.

"…Fox…This may have been my fault." Krystal rang out softly.

The vulpine looked over at her softly, "But how could this be your fault?" Krystal winced and looked away. Fox placed his paw under her chin and turned it so her visage was facing his. "Krystal, what happened, please tell us."

Krystal looked back at Fox softly, "You see…after you left with Falco I sort of went to Kap…I mean Gemini's office…"

Fox took his paws and placed them on either side of her beautiful blue visage, "You see…this is exactly why I didn't want you to go on that mission to Gemini's office." Fox declared in a semi stern tone. "Krys, you were almost killed…and I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you, because I want…" Fox stopped his sentence short and turned a deep bright red. He slowly got up and walked out of the room, everyone stood there in confusion.

"Dude…what's up with that?" Falco called out in his egotistical tone after Fox had disappeared from sight.

Krystal gazed around at the confused looks on everyone's faces, what just happened, no body knew. "I'll be right back everyone, excuse me." Krystal alleged to the group.

Fox rushed to his room and depressed his palm in the grid activating the door he passed through it quickly and gazed up at his ceiling as it slid shut behind him. He ambled over to his dresser and pulled open the top drawer he dug deep inside it and pulled out a small black felt box. He placed his paw on the top and opened it revealing a small gold ring with three blue diamonds on the top. He took it over to the bed where he sat down and gazed at it. Suddenly a small quiet voice was heard as if someone were approaching, "Fox?" Krystal's voice echoed down the hall growing louder and louder the closer she got to the door. Her voice startled and flustered him making him jump and drop the ring box, "Oh damn…" Fox whispered shakily as he watched it bounce underneath the bed. He jumped down and crawled halfway underneath the bed, he reached for the ring box and grabbed it suddenly he felt a tap on his foot.

"Fox…what are you doing?" Krystal asked now standing gazing down at what she could see of Fox, his feet. Her touch startled him and he jumped up hitting his head on the bottom of the bed. He brought his other arm around, placed it over his muzzle and let out muffled growls of agony. Krystal smiled wide, got down onto her stomach and crawled underneath the bed. She turned her head to face the vulpine's, "Sooo…Fox, what are you doing down here?" Krystal asked softly and playfully, "Did you loose something?" The vulpine slid out from underneath the bed, Krystal following close behind. He stood up and held the black ring box behind his back.

"It's nothing Krys…don't worry about it." Fox mused slightly shivering nervously holding the box tight in his paws.

The vixen knew better she knew he was hiding something from her she grinned wide and tried to peek around him, "No come on what is that…you are holding something behind your back." She said giggling.

"Krystal, it's nothing…I…I just have my hands behind my back." Fox mused shakily trying to save himself from getting caught.

The azure vixen refused to believe him and she poked him in the side, "Oh come on…please?"

Fox yipped at the feel of her poking his side, "Aah…Krys, no tickling…I have nothing to hide."

"No! I shall not stop! Not until you tell me what you are hiding behind your back!" She called out playfully poking him over and over again in his sides and stomach.

Fox was laughing uncontrollably backing up a few feet hitting his back on the wall, "Kr…Krystal…I…have no…nothing to hi…hide" Fox strained to say while being viciously poked and tickled.

Krystal growled playfully and grabbed his waist, "Oh you know I'll find out one way or another. You can't hide anything from me Foxy McCloud!" She grunted as she pulled with all of her strength and swung him around forcing him to the ground pinning him. When the vulpine hit the ground his eyes immediately went wide and he lost his grip on the black felt box, and it rolled across the floor. Krystal looked over at it and back to him, "I knew you were hiding something behind your back!" She called out triumphantly rubbing her nose against his, "See? I'll find out one way or another…and you know it." She rolled off fox and started to crawl over to the small box, "Now what is it?" She asked giddily. Fox knowing what she was about to set her eyes upon grabbed her foot and tried climbing over her reaching hard trying to get the box before she could. She saw Fox's paw trying to reach for the box out of the corner of her glistening eye. She took her free paw and pinned his reaching paw to the ground. "I…got it!" Krystal said covering the top of the box with her small paw closing her fingers around it tight. Fox sat up quickly, grabbed her arm and yanked her close to him.

He placed his paw on the bottom of the box while she was holding the top and his tone suddenly grew quietly stern, "Krystal…give me that now…"

She gazed deep into his eyes and she let go of it, "Fox…what is so important about that box?" She asked slightly annoyed. Fox just sat there in silence, he knew the moment had come and there was no backing down from it now. "Huh? What is so important about…" Her sentence was interrupted as she felt his warm paw slip underneath her left paw. He held up the box to her at nose level and took a deep staggering breath, "Krystal…my Krystal…I love you with all my heart. I will always take care of you and I want to be with you forever…" Fox flipped open the box with one hand, once again revealing the shimmering gold, blue diamonded ring. "Will you marry me?" The vulpine turned beet red and gazed into Krystal's eyes deeply. She was stunned. Her jaw had dropped to the floor, and all she could do was stare into her lover's eyes. "Yes…yes I will." She delicately alleged. The now crimson red faced vulpine took the ring out of the box, once again slid his tepid palm under her left paw, and then he slid the ring on her finger. They gazed into each others eyes again holding paws. Krystal slid her paws out from over his and placed them on the sides of his head. She slowly approached his muzzle and gave him a nice warm deep kiss pushing him to the ground.

----To Be Continued----

**A/N: Ok…For those of you going, "WHOA…WTF…COME ON LETS SEE SOME ACTION!" I am definitely capable of writing something like that but I have THAT on a separate file (which is currently still under construction) so yes the ACTION exists but for those wanting to see Fox and Krystal doing THAT like most hardcore Fox and Krystal fans…you'll need to send me an e-mail and I'll send it to you. I couldn't write it in fanfiction because I'd be banned and so would my story and I don't want that happening. Plus I like to respect the Administrators of I'd like to say, I'm only writing this because I know some Fox and Krystal fans would LOVE to see these two fine foxes doing THAT since it's never been done before…at least I don't think it has…anyway, e-mail me at if you would like to see this special edition of the chapter! CONGRADULATIONS FOX AND KRYSTAL!**


	7. Radiant Love

**A/N: HAHAH for those of you that thought this story had died…WROOOOOOOOOOONG! Ok yes it took me 3 months to update, but between my new college life, vacation, and writers block…I had some obstacles. But like I've said before…Starliner will NEVER EVER GIVE UP of course it may be a while at times…but I've gotten some fresh new ideas forming in my head. Just wait for Chapter 8 I promise you WON'T be disappointed! Just get ready…evil grin Oh and for those who could not get the Special Chapter that I couldn't put on for "Adult" Reasons…I still have it if you want it…but…if you feel safe enough you will have to personally e-mail me so I can send it as an this chapter that I completed in 2 days! Chapter 8 will be LOADED with action and one shocking twist that NO ONE will EVER expect to happen! **

Chapter VII: Radiant Love

Krystal gazed at the blue diamonded ring deeply then looked up at her lover. The two lovers exchanged gazes for what seemed an eternity. "Fox, it's beautiful." The lovely blue vixen said softly. "I love you so much, you probably won't ever know how much I love you."

Fox leaned into her and rested his forehead on hers and whispered to her, "I love you more than you'll ever know, I fell for you the moment I saw you trapped in the crystal on Krazoa Palace." Krystal grinned wide and blushed through her fur. Fox ran his fingers along her face, and the vixen took his paw and kissed the back of it, then leaned in and kissed his cheek. "You are so sweet Fox…it's unbearable." Krystal grinned whispering to him softly. "Should we tell them…or leave it a secret?"

Fox replied gingerly to her, "Lets keep it a secret for now." Krystal smiled and kissed his cheek again, making the vulpine blush. "Let's get out of here." He said with a grin.

**

* * *

**

**Falco just stood there with a confused look on his face, **"Wait…what did you just say?"

The grey furred lupine looked to Peppy with a disgusted yet desperate look, "I hate doing this…and you know it. Believe me, you idiots are the last people I'd want to come to for this, we just need..." Wolf cringed knowing the next words he was going to say were the ones he hated most, "…help"

Falco snickered and leaned in, "What? What was that now?"

Wolf glared over at him through his bionic eye, "You know what I said."

"No no…I don't think I quite got that." Falco said with a wide grin on his face.

"Just shut up bird!" The lupine shouted.

Fox and Krystal were suddenly seen entering the room. Fox's ears perked as he heard the loud commotion upon entering the room, "Whoa…what's with all the yell…" He stops abruptly upon seeing Wolf and the entire Starwolf team in the room. "…ing" He finishes. Falco smoothly trotted up to Fox, "Get this man…they need our help." The avian said with a snicker.

Fox looked at him, then over his shoulder to Wolf and the others, "Oh? Well what's the problem?" He asked Wolf while looking over Falco's shoulder.

Wolf sighed, "Ok listen…they just hit us, a swarm of damn fighters all led by this one giant asshole. They just suddenly swarmed in with no warning, killed most of our troops and completely took over Sargasso. We couldn't survive that kind of attack, we'd never seen anything like it…it just…was too much" The words seemed to be staggered as he told the story.

"Just tell me…who is the commander to this squad?" Fox asked calmly and collected.

Wolf scoffed and smirked, "Heh…some moron named Leo."

The whole room went dead silent and everyone looked at each other at once. Katt to Falco, Fox to Krystal, Peppy to Slippy, and the Starwolf team looked nothing but confused. "What…" Wolf said in confusion, unaware unto what they knew.

Peppy closed his eyes, looked up at the ceiling, and sighed deeply, "Ok Wolf…what did this person look like…?"

Just as the dark grey lupine was opening his maw and raw, raspy voice appeared out of no where, "He looked like a huge muscular tiger with a chest plate on. He looked like he'd recently been, seriously injured or something." Leon said in his usual raspy tone.

Suddenly a small groan was heard from Krystal, she hunched down and grabbed her stomach. Fox's eyes and ears perked and he hunched down beside her, "Hey…what's wrong"

The vixen shook her head to tell him nothing was wrong, "It's really nothing…just a small stomach pain, I'll be right back." She said once again exiting the room quietly.

In the back, Panther gazed over at her as she left the room. He grinned and decided to follow her, as he was passing Fox the vulpine stood in front of him and stopped him. "Hey…what do you think you are doing?"

"Relax pup I'm just going to see if she's ok, you have more pressing matters to attend to right now." Panther said with a sly, yet trusting grin on his face. Fox slightly grinned and let Panther pass by him.

"Panther!" Wolf called out to the dark feline as he was leaving. He gave him a glare and shook his head slightly, "Don't do anything stupid for once." Panther smirked and left.

The vixen stumbled into the kitchen and flopped down in a chair, holding her gut. "Damn…why did this have to happen to me now." She groaned slightly her paw on her head, resting her elbow on the table.

Panther peeked around from behind the door, seeing the beautiful young vixen sitting alone in the kitchen. He let out a long sigh, "Ok Panther, here we go…just play it cool." He strolled in the room with a high and mighty look on his face and sat down in the chair adjacent from Krystal. She looked up at him and grinned slightly.

Panther opened his maw to speak and before he could get any words out of him he heard, "Oh don't you even think about it?" Krystal's voice rang out as his maw was open and ready to speak. The feline quickly sighed and slumped down in his chair, "Well why not?" He asked her calmly.

Krystal looked up at him with a slight pained look in her eyes, "Well…the one thing most of all is…I'm in love with Fox."

The feline rolled his eyes and scoffed, "Why should that matter…we can always hide it."

She looked up at him with a disgusted look on her face, "How in the hell can you say that…That is the exact reason why I'd never date you. From things I've heard about you in the past, you've cheated on several people…and I'm not going to…" She abruptly stopped and grabbed her gut again, softly resting her forehead on the table. Panther got up from his chair and walked over behind her, placing his large paw on her shoulder, "Hey, are you ok?"

Krystal nodded, "It's just a…stomach ache…probably something I ate." She said softly grinning back to him.

Panther tilted his head slightly, "It looks to me more like just a simple stomach ache." He mused.

Krystal shook her head reassuringly, "No…Panther it's just a stomach ache, but…it's really bad."

The feline pulled up a chair and sat down right beside her, "Krystal, let me help you, there must be something I can do."

Krystal shook her head again, "No…there's nothing you can do for this kind of stomach ache. Thanks you are really sweet though." She looked over at him and grinned.

Panther just sat there with a confused look on his face, "What do you mean hon? What kind of stomach ache do you mean?" He asked. Krystal just looked at him as if she was keeping a secret.

"It's different because…" She stopped and looked straight ahead at the wall.

"What…what is it?" He asked with his paw on her shoulder.

"It's different because…I'm…I'm pregnant." She mused blushing slightly.

Panther's eyes widened, "Oh…well congratulations, to…Fox too." Fox's name seemed to growl out of his tone, hinting a bit of jealousy in him. He stands up and walks out of the room without saying another word, leaving Krystal looking at his back as he rounded the corner. She stood up and closely followed him.

"So you are telling me you stabbed him through the chest with a sword and he survived it?" Wolf asked facing Katt her slowly nodding.

"Apparently he did…I don't know how though. I thought it was quite a clean pierce." Katt mused, "I mean I took his own sword and stabbed him through the chest…all the way through, until the base of the sword was touching his back, I don't see how anyone can survive that. Plus I shot him square in the forehead after I stabbed him."

"Well apparently their technology is higher than ours." Slippy said out of no where.

"Heh for once…I think the toad is right." Wolf mused, his bionic eye scanning the room.

Fox suddenly felt a pat on his shoulder and turned his head to see Panther right behind him. "Congratulations Fox…" He said before joining back up with his own wingmates. The vulpine tilted his head and just looked at him as he walked away. Soon after, he suddenly felt someone wrap their arms around his tummy and hug him tightly. It was none other than the lovely vixen. He looked back to her, "Krys…why did he say that? Does he know?" He asked her looking into her eyes.

"Yes Fox…he knows, but no one else does…it just sort of, slipped out on me." She said with a slight giggle, in her mind reviewing over what she really meant by 'he knows'.

"Ok that's it…it's time to buckle down and nip this in the bud, we have to stop this once and for all." Peppy said sternly, "It's time to invade Venom and stop Invictus once and for all, we are moving out team…once again. Slippy, call up General Pepper and tell him that we are ready to invade and stop this crisis. Tell him to get our top troops and fighters, because this will not be an easy mission." After peppy finished the toad quickly left the room to do the job he was asked to do. "Wolf…we will help you get your base back, if you end up helping us with destroying Invictus."

The lupine grinned sheepishly, "Fine…it's a deal, even if I hate it."

Peppy nodded, "Thank you."

Wolf turned away, "Whatever…Panther, Leon lets go get ready." Then they all left the room, in a small triangle formation. Wolf in front and the other two following close behind on each side of his shoulder.

Fox rolled his eyes and turned around to be face to face with his mate. She was looking up at him with soft eyes, with a secretive look in her eyes. "Fox…may I talk to you for a moment?" She asked him softly taking his paw, cupped over hers with her other paw covering the top of his paw. Fox nodded happily and she leaned into his ear, "Fox…there's something I've been keeping from you for quite some time now. You see…Fox…" She blushed deeply and leaned in and whispered, "I'm…pregnant."

Fox's ears twitched and his eyes widened wide, he retracted from her and looked deep into your eyes. "Wh…wha…what did you say…did…did you say…" Fox started stumbling backwards, Krystal couldn't keep from grinning at him.

"You are going to be a daddy Foxy." She said giving a soft kiss to his cheek. The vulpine stuttered and backed into the wall, slowly sliding down until he was sitting on the floor with a dumbfounded look on his visage.

"Krys…how…you…what…I th…thought…how did…how did…this happen…when did this happen?" Fox struggled to get the words out, but could barely find the strength. He was so overwhelmed with surprise and happiness that he was almost unable to remember his own name.

The lovely vixen slid down by him and rubbed his leg, "Honey, do you remember that one night…after we went to the Blue Ray Bar?"

The vulpine thought for a moment then his eyes widened again, "But that can't be…we were protected, it was safe." Fox mused staring straight into her eyes.

She smiled and snuggled up to him, "Well…I guess it wasn't enough." Krystal said rubbing up his leg, stroking his chest lightly with her fingers. "Fox…are you alright with this…I mean, you told me a long time ago you wanted to be a daddy one day." She alleged an inch away from his lips.

Fox blushed deep red feeling her radiant lips literally an inch from his lips. "Yes Krys…of course…I did. I just w-wa-wasn't expecting it to…happen li-like th-this." The red furred vulpine stammered out. "I love you so much, words are in capable of expressing my love for you."

Krystal leaned in and softly attached her muzzle to his, then released. "I guess this will work out for the better then, I need to hit the gym Fox. I will talk to you later, we all have some preparing to do." She said standing back up holding a paw out to the shocked vulpine.

Fox shook his head lightly and smiled up to her, "I think…I'm going to sit here for a little while…I need to think." Krystal nodded and softly walked out of the room, turning back and winking at him just before she rounded the corner to head for the gym. Just as she rounded that corner Falco also turned, greeting her kindly then turning his blue feathered cranium to see Fox, slumped down on the floor. He scoffed and ambled over to him. "Yo Fox! Why are you sitting here?" He asked.

Fox looked up at him and just shook his head softly over and over again, not saying one word. Falco got down in his face and waved a wing in front of him, "Hello? Fox? What's up?" He asked again. The shocked vulpine still said nothing, he just looked up into the avian's eyes and shook his head with a slight smile appearing on his face. Falco smacked him across the head, "Dude! Wake up!" He shouted. The shout was just enough to bring Fox out of his own world and back to the real one.

"Huh? Oh…oh! Hey Falco…wh-what's up?" He asked still stammering a little.

"That's what I'm asking you dude. What is going on? I mean…you are just sitting here and the look on your face looks like you've just discovered a shocking secret or something about someone."

Fox just looked up at him and shook his head. "Actually…you are right Falco. Krystal…just told me…she was p-p-pregnant."

The avian got a huge grin on his face, "Woooo! Way to go Fox McCloud!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. Fox quickly shot up and put his hand over his beak, "Hey shut up man. We can't let the others know just yet I'm worried about her and the mission. It could be bad for the child." Fox mused with his paw over the avian's beak, "I don't even know if I can handle her on the team right now. I'll have to look after her twice or even a hundred times as much as I did before, now that I've been told this."

"Fox relax…Krystal can take care of herself, trust me on this" The avian said to Fox nudging him friendly. "But for now…we must prepare for this war, come on man lets hit the simulators, we've got two days." Falco said holding out his wing to help him up. Fox gladly took his wing and the avian pulled him up, and they left to train on the simulators.


End file.
